Whumptober Fun
by wolfsrainrules
Summary: Whumptober Prompts. Unrelated Now: Aizawa finally finds out what exactly his kids have been doing. What they've been fighting. He wants to s c r e a m.
1. Shaky Hands

**This one is the result of chatting with heyhamlet, and realizing the AU I had snowballed with him, was in fact entirely fitting for Whumptober 2019 day one "Shaky Hands".**

**LINEBREAK**

When they were little, before their quirks had come in even, Katsuki and Deku had made up a language. Rather- they had made up code words and phrases.

Back when they had been convinced they would be heroes _together_, and nothing and no one would stop them.

As little children, that language usually referred to things like school, and their mothers, and a father, and various other things and places and people that they had interacted with.

And Katsuki would _never_ admit that, even when they had their falling out, when Katsuki had thought "_Deku couldn't be a hero quirkless"_, he had never let himself forget that series of codes. That when he was bored, or had a moment to himself, he would still think them over, whisper them to himself, and make sure they were second nature to his mind.

That somewhere, deep down, he had never doubted for a second that Deku wouldn't claw his way into heroics _somehow. _

So Katsuki remembered, and never let himself forget what they had whispered to each other, out in the forest where they used to play.

And then Deku had gotten a quirk, had trained and trained and _fought_ for his place in UA, and their relationship improved.

Teachers that _cared_, and wouldn't put up with his shit, as well as anger management and counselling and certainly helped that along, after their fight in Ground Beta.

After the various disasters and villain attacks that had befallen their class over the years, Bakugou had finally taken a moment- right near the start of their second year-to sit Deku down and see if he remembered the codes.

Of fucking course the nerd did.

He should have known better.

Still- he had made Izuku promise to use them, if he ever needed to. Said he would make sure Izuku got the help he needed, if he did.

**LINEBREAK**

Class 3-A had a well established series of...tasks, that they went through if they were, at any point, going to miss school or be late.

It had become a requirement, after all the villain plans, kidnappings, attacks, and plots they had gotten themselves caught up in.

Which was why, when Deku was late, and _no one knew_ where he was, or what the hold up was, there was a sense of panic, tightly controlled, amongst the classroom.

Deku was a _nerd_ and he liked to show up early to classes. This had held true throughout his entire school career, though UA in particular held a high place of honor for him.

Katsuki knew it was because Deku had _friends_ here, and not _just_ because he was eager to learn how to save people and be a hero. Granted this wasn't so much a _class_ as it was the meeting place for the class after a weekend at home with their parents or family.

But the point still stood- even here, seeing his friends again after a weekend with Auntie Inko...the nerd would have been _early_.

So when the class tricked in, as their time limit to be back on campus for Aizawa to do a final headcount, started cutting it close and Deku's desk remained _empty…_

They were all agitated, and scanning the area, looking for that curly green hair.

Katsuki _knew_ Izuku was supposed to be here. He'd texted the nerd last night. He'd said he was packed and ready to head back to the dorms.

Aizawa-sensei was standing in front of his desk, leaning against it, instead of curled up in his sleeping bag like he usually would have been until the last minute. He was switching his gaze from the door to the clock, and then scanning over his students.

Katsuki fidgeted. The scent of burning sugar was growing stronger as he fought not to set off sparks in his agitation-_not worry, agitation-_ and stared at the door like Deku would just _appear_.

**LINEBREAK**

It's five minutes past the cut-off arrival time back to UA, and Aizawa has already alerted the Principal, when Katsuki almost jumps out of his desk and falls into a combat stance on instinct.

The tense hushed conversations the class had been having cut off.

Katsuki's phone is ringing.

Katsuki's phone _never_ rings. Especially during UA hours- any one who would call him now-a-days _goes_ to UA with him, and his mother knows that even in emergencies, she has to contact UA directly to talk to him.

All parents signed a document saying they would follow that procedure when they went through the multitudes of paperwork to be part of the Hero Course, resigned and agreed to at every new year. Their class- as targets for villains- is especially held to this standard.

So Katsuki's phone rings, and the class falls dead silent as he reaches into his bag, face pale, but determined.

He knows the ringtone. It's from an old All Might anime that he and Deku used to watch together, and Katsuki had assigned it to the nerd forever ago.

When he flips his phone around "_Fucking Nerd"_ stares back at him from the caller ID, and Katsuki steels himself as he accepts the call.

He immediately presses the phone onto speaker, and the class is dead silent as Aizawa steps closer to his desk and they all stare.

Katsuki doesn't even get a chance to open his mouth and ask Deku '_where the hell are you, you fucking nerd'_ the way he wants too.

Instead he hears Deku call, in a false_false__**false**_ happy tone "Hi, Onii-chan!"

And Katsuki's heart _stops_.

But Izuku keeps talking "I know there's not a lot of time left before school starts, but if you could tell Sensei I'm not gonna make it in today? And let mom know I'll be late too, I broke her vase, and messed up my assignment for class, so I need to replace that, and fix the other at the library, before I can make it home."

Katsuki's brain automatically translates the codes spilling out of Izuku's mouth, even as his face pales, and his hands start shaking.

"_I'm in a large amount of danger. I don't have much time, they're hurting me, and I can't leave. Bones are broken, the case I was one went back, you're going to need info on it."_

Katsuki is going to _throw up._ The only thing holding him on his feet-_when did he actually get up-_ is the strong grip Aizawa-sensei has on his shoulder.

Izuku's phone is state of the art. All of 3-A's phones are. Hatsume had 'tinkered' with them too, so the entire time the conversation happens, as naturally slowly as Izuku can make it sound, the entire class can hear some of what happens in the background.

There's screaming, crying, the sound of someone being slapped. There's an angry voice snapping commands.

Izuku's voice doesn't waver.

Not even when, closer, and crystal clear to the class, they hear a male voice snarl "Hurry the _fuck up __**Deku**_." The boy's hero name is sneered, thrown down like a gauntlet.

There's a moment of silence broken by the clear- too clear and close to be anyone but Deku himself, even with Hatsume's changes to the phone- sound of a bone snapping.

"It's time to _hang up_, little **hero.** We wouldn't want any...accidents to happen to anyone would we?" the same voice growls.

Katsuki's legs start shaking, just like his hands, and he sways where he stands again at the sound.

At how _steady_ Izuku's voice still sounds, despite the fact that he just _had his bones broken_.

"Anyway, I gotta go Aniue, love you, goodnight."

"_The danger has escalated to deadly, and I make not make it, I love you."_

Katsuki doesn't even feel his phone slip out of his hands. Doesn't feel the way he tries to pull out Aizawa-sensei's hold.

_He didn't even get to say anything back._

_**He didn't get to say anything back.**_

_**That was his BROTHER and he **_**didn't get to say anything back to him-**

"Bakugou!"

Aizawa-sensei's hands are either one of his shoulders, the class still dead silent despite the heavy pulsing aura of rage they are all giving off, despite the look in their eyes that says they are only still and silent because they are _waiting for a direction to move_.

Katsuki's hand tremble as he claps over Aizawa's hold on him and demands "_Let Go."_

"Bakugou, I need you to tell me what happened."

Aizawa-sensei is pale. He's an Underground, he knows code when he hears it, he's taught the class some. But his eyes _burn_ like pits of hellfire and lava, a conviction just as strong as the one in Katsuki's chest.

So Katsuki answers. "Izuku has been taken somewhere, he's hurt bad, the situation just turned deadly, and we're on the clock. It has something to do with the case he was working on with the remains of Nighteye's Agency, and if I can find his stash of notes- his 'library', I can limit where we have to look."

He shakes his way free of Aizawa and starts _running_.

He crashes his way towards the dorm, towards Izuku's room. The Nerd was always brining work home- if he could _find_ where he'd fucking hid it this time, he could help.

Like _**fuck**_ he was going to leave his friend- his _family damn it_\- in the hands of _villains._

_(He can hear his teacher and classmates falling into step with him.)_


	2. Explosion

Shinsou didn't _have_ many friends. Not until he'd entered 1-A as a hero course student after their first Sports Festival.

The entire class seemed to be _different_ somehow, and as they grew, and matured, that fact had never changed.

But Midoriya had a special place in Shinsou's heart, as one of the first kids his age, who heard what his quirk did and never even _blinked_ between the knowledge and blurting "_Oh my god, that's __**such a cool quirk!"**_

Over their years in class A, Shinsou had grown close to him, and enjoyed his company. He and Midoriya had a standing agreement every second Saturday of the month, to go out and try something new for one or both of them. _(Not that it was the only time they hung out, but it was a left over from the days when Shinsou was jittery about having too many people around, and Midoriya wanted to be his friend.)_

Shinsou had been talked into some **stupid** things over the years, including the time they had both stalked underground hero fights at 2am, or the time they had seen a guy use his quirk, and Midoriya was so excited they ended up trying to figure it out by following the guy and looking for clues.

Or the time that Midoriya had dragged him to Hero Con, and talked him into cosplaying Aizawa-sensei while Midoriya ran around as Present Mic. Which was how Shinsou learned Midoriya was a well known and respected name on hero forums and HeroTube. Incidentally- they had created quite a few videos ranging from 'conspiracy theories' to Midoriya's first time at a cat cafe, to the both of them trying new foods for the first time.

At any rate, Shinsou and Midoriya had done quite a few different activities over the years.

Today, they were supposed to head down to the corner store, and bring back movie snacks, so they could sit down and binge through a series of horror movies neither boy had ever seen, but Kaminari _swore_ were worth watching.

Aizawa-sensei had driven them down to the corner- even as third years, all of 3-A had been targets of villains often enough that they weren't allowed to leave campus without an escort. Though they were trusted enough to be allowed to go into the store alone, and their provisional licenses ensured they could use their quirks if they needed to, Aizawa was still waiting inside the UA car in the parking lot, with the storefront in sight.

Shinsou had been laughing, shoving lightly at Midoriya's shoulder as they walked into the storefront.

It had been...unusually quiet, even for a corner shop.

It was instinct for the both of them to go quiet, searching for anything out of place. They glanced at each other, a silent moment of communication, and split up.

Carefully scanning the aisles showed the corner store was deserted.

When Shinsou and Midoriya met back up in the back of the store, they both looked uneasy.

"Something's wrong." Midoriya's voice was low, quiet as he scanned the store again.

"Yeah," Shinsou agreed "It's eerie."

Both boys headed towards the front counter. They hadn't seen anyone, but hoped to find some sort of explanation.

Shinsou wouldn't be able to tell anyone what made him lean forward, and look over the counter later on.

He'd just...done it.

And tucked into a corner, Shinsou could see terrified brown eyes staring at him from a woman tied up and pinned to the ground. His breath caught, and he immediately jumped over the counter, Midoriya a second behind him, as he spotted what had made Shinsou move.

Shinsou's hands were steady as he carefully began to untie her, and work the gag out of her mouth, as Deku began to carefully break the cement that had pinned her to the floor.

As soon as the gag was free, the woman began talking, fast and panicked "You have to get out!"

"Ma'am, everything is going to be okay-" Midoriya's voice was calm as he kept breaking the stone surrounding her legs, very careful not to hurt the woman in his efforts.

"NO!" the woman's voice was sharp and panicked, but determined. "No, you have to get out, my ex set the shop to _explode_ you need to get away!"

Shinsou stilled, and saw Midoriya do the same, before he started breaking the cement quicker, but no less careful. "There were not explosions." Shinsou's voice was sure, as he spoke. They'd both gone over the store well, even poking heads into the rooms in the back that they technically didn't have access too.

The woman was crying, shaking her head "No- you wouldn't have seen anything. He can turn everything he touches into a timed bomb. His bombs aren't catastrophic on their own, but he's touched almost all of the things in the aisles before he left me here."

Shinsou and Midoriya met each other's eyes over her head, both worried and determined.

"Ma'am, can you tell me if there's any way to stop your ex's quirk? And his name, and the name of the person who did this to you?" Midoriya's voice was steady and calm, none of his worry showing.

The woman responded to their calm, Shinsou standing and running towards the place he had seen the video cameras while searching the store. He couldn't break the woman out, Midoriya would have to do that, but he could gather evidence.

There was a card access port in almost every security camera station, where a pro hero or provisional license could be used like an access card. Swipe the card, type in the proper password, and the contents of the camera(s) chosen by the hero would be sent to their agency for evidence. If it was found to be abused in any way, there would be _consequences_, and in the event the hero using their license to access security cameras owned their own agency that they worked at, they had to have another agency designated to receive the videos at the same time as their own, to make sure someone was checking this fact.

As soon as he had sent the evidence off, he rushed back to Midoriya and the woman, now free of her binds, and being lifted into Deku's arms.

Deku turned and pressed her into Shinsou's arms. "Take her outside to Eraserhead, and call the authorities. I'm going to start breaking things in here- according to Yumiko-san, it should stop her ex's quirk from activating if the items he touched are broken afterwards. She's not sure how long he set his timer for, so we have to be quick."

Shinsou wanted to scream.

He wanted to rage, he _did not_ want to leave Deku behind in a building he _knew_ was primed to explode, but not _when_. He wanted to start destroying things around him.

But Shinsou was a hero-in-training, and he knew he needed to get the civilian out of harms way before he could do anything about the 'exploding building' thing.

He took Yumiko-san from Izuku's arms, meeting his eyes over her head again. Izuku nodded once, seemingly picking up the nonverbal demand that he survive this, and Shinsou whirled around and rushed out of the store, making a beeline straight for Aizawa-sensei, who was already climbing out of the car, and pulling his yellow goggles into a more accessible position.

Shinsou retold the situation as quickly as he could, and before Aizawa could demand he stay outside, he rushed back towards the store.

He cleared the door, and watched the green sparks of Deku whirling around the store, bringing down shelves and shelves of product. Shinsou knew it would be quicker to start on the other side, and meet in the middle, but if the building _exploded_ he wanted to be near to Deku when it happened, so he rushed towards him instead, joining in and pulling shelves down, and breaking everything he could get his hands on, his own capture weapon coming to life around his neck.

**LINEBREAK**

They destroyed most of the store in only a few moments.

They hadn't taken into account that the security camera computers were also an option, along with other items in the back room.

The building exploded with Shinsou and Midoriya both still inside.

Shinsou lunged for Deku, who lunged towards him as they both felt the wave of air pressure slam into them and send them careening back into the destroyed projects.

They were wrapped around each other, as the building started coming down on top of them.

_(Later, it would be discovered that, by destroying the shelving and food products, Shinsou and Midoriya had actually saved several blocks of civilians, and instead of taking out the store and everything around it, they had limited the explosion down to just the store they were inside.)_

That didn't make Aizawa feel any better when he watched the building collapse on top of both his students, stuck with the civilian until emergency services arrived. He could hear them approaching, but they had still been out of sight when the building collapsed down.

Aizawa was the first into the rubble once the paramedics had taken Yumiko-san off of his hands, and after he had called his students and alerted them to the situation. They were close by, and some of their quirks would be perfect for locating and extracting their other classmates.

_(And if Aizawa hadn't told them, they'd have found out on the news, and it would have ended….much worse. At least this way he could direct the chaos that was 3-A, and give them something to _do.)


	3. Delirium

The thing about having provisional licenses for hero work since first year, was that by their third class 3-A was basically considered Pro Heroes. They were trusted to handle most incidences on their own, and know when to make a call for help.

All the actual experience they had had with the League of Villains and their various attacks and plots had only reinforced that fact. Sure they would have someone with them to watch over them, and make calls for things they hadn't encountered before, or to be back up if something went horribly wrong, but most often the UA students were allowed to make their own choices.

Izuku had been having a good day. He'd responded to various SOS calls, both from civilians and twice from other heroes, a fire call, two chases, and an actual hostage situation. He'd managed to resolve all of them, with only a little guiding from his mentor on the hostage situation.

And then the call had gone out, a call for someone to help a hero. Technically, Deku and his mentor should have been headed back for lunch with the others, were getting ready to, but they were closest to the distress call. They wouldn't mind if the two of them were a _little_ late.

Deku looked at his mentor, and she rolled her eyes with a smile, but nodded permission, following behind him as they rushed towards the source. Izuku was careful to keep his speed in a manageable level for people without his quirk or one like Iida's to keep up.

The two of them arrived at the coordinates sent out in the SOS within two minutes. The hero to have sent out the SOS was collapsed on the ground, a civilian woman crouched over his form, hands on his chest, and lips pressed together in what appeared to be an attempt at CPR.

Deku was quick to approach, calling out that he was there to help and crouching down beside the woman, nudging her hands out of the way, and searching for any wounds or obvious clues to what may have dropped the hero.

That was his mistake.

**LINEBREAK**

Deku was aware and functioning perfectly in one moment, and then the civilian woman was turning towards him, and as he lifted his face, a smile pulling his lips, to comfort her- she was suddenly pressing their lips together.

Izuku jerked backwards, his eyes wide- or he tried to. He tried to force his body to move, but nothing happened. He was still, and his body was relaxing against his will.

"Hello Deku-" the woman's voice was soft, as she spoke, but the smile on her lips was nothing short of demented. "I'm so glad to meet you! We're going to work together beautifully, I can already tell. Now stand up for me, okay?"

Izuku struggled to do anything, to move, or warn his mentor, to scream, or fight just- _anything._ Instead, his body began to stand as the woman commanded.

"Deku?" His mentor sounded confused, and Izuku wanted to _scream_.

"Come on Deku, it's time for us to go. Take me out of here" The woman held her hands out to him, like a child asking to be picked up, and Izuku's body moved to sweep her into his arms without permission.

He crouched, sparks of One for All dancing over his body and no amount of internal screaming or straining to stop himself worked.

He jumped, his mentor's voice calling for him in a worried, commanding voice. "DEKU!"

Deku didn't-couldn't- stop.

**LINEBREAK**

Yukina wasn't the kind of person to _panic_. She was calm, rational, and generally kept her cool in high stress situations. It was why she was so good at her job as a sidekick.

It was also why she had been chosen to mentor third year UA student Midoriya Izuku.

The boy was well known for ending up in the middle of the nearest situation, for his determination to save, his drive and intelligence. Yukina was chosen to mentor him, because she could keep up with him, and would be able to handle whatever he ended up getting into in most cases.

She knew very well that, on the way back to their agency, when the SOS came in, and he looked back at her, she wouldn't be able to tell him no. Not only because they were close enough to make a difference, when seconds could save or end a life, but because she had never seen such a drive to _protect_ and _save_ in a third year high school student.

It would destroy him to walk away.

"_What could it hurt to do one more thing before we had lunch?"_

So she nodded, and smiled, and let him know it was okay, even as she followed after the quick dash from her intern.

Then they came across the woman leaning over a hero, and something in her head _screamed_.

She was opening her mouth to tell Izuku to _get back_, but it was too late.

She sees the woman press her lips to Midoriya's and she sees the sudden and obvious glaze that overcomes his eyes. She's too far to hear what the woman says, exactly, but Deku is standing under his own power.

He's leaving the injured hero on the ground, showing no worry over him, watching the woman with those glazed, blank eyes, and Yukina's heart seizes.

She's rushing forward, even as the woman lifts her hands, and Deku is sweeping her up like a civilian needing to be carried, his quirk sparking over his body in a way Yukina has become very familiar with.

"DEKU!" she calls for him, and he doesn't acknowledge her at all, blurring out of her sight, away from her side, and he's moving faster than Yukina has ever seen him outside an emergency situation.

She will never catch up to him.

Everything about the situation is _wrong_. Deku is a considerate, caring soul. He would never leave an injured person behind, never just..._not_ examine them and bring them aid. He'd never ignore her, never just _leave_.

And his _eyes_.

It was like no one was home, like he was a puppet.

Yukina is already cursing a bluestreak, even as she contacts her agency.

There are three other people from 3-A interning at her agency. Aizawa is one of the overseeing heroes for the set interning with the agency.

He's going to be _pissed_ she lost his student.

_Fuck_.

She still doesn't hesitate to call, and the moment she's in contact with the 'emergency response desk' she's roaring into the comm device in her ear "I need backup and emergency services to my location immediately. Redfoot is down, unknown cause, unresponsive, no visible injuries, possible quirk use. Deku has been affected by an unknown quirk, he's not himself. He's been taken by a villain who appears to have complete control of his movements so far as I can tell. I lost their trail, he's moving to quickly for me to keep up."

**LINEBREAK**

Aizawa had a bad feeling.

He had had a bad feeling since this morning when he rolled out of bed, and walked his four students to the agency they were all interning at. Redfoot Agency was an 'all around' sort of agency, pulling in heroes for all walks of life, and had acted as a base and life line for underground heroes as well.

It wasn't the agency Aizawa had worked at- still worked at- but it was a good one, and Aizawa had used it before as a touch-base. When his four students had asked to have an internship with access to multiple kinds of hero work for them to work with and learn from, Aizawa had offered Redfoot as an option.

When they had agreed to try that one, Aizawa had nodded and made arrangements. He was working with Shinsou anyway, it was easy to let the agency know he was going to be working with them over the course of the intern week. More than that, since all four children wanted to try and work in an underground hero capacity, to learn to work with them, and operate correctly when needed, Aizawa planned to be the one they went out with. All four were _his_ students, and had been for three years. He'd lived in the dorms with them during school since their first year. They responded well to him, and he knew how to teach them in ways that would stick.

So he signs himself up to join the kids during their intern week.

He's five days into that intern week, and his Hell Class and Problem Child have all lived up to their titles. Nothing they haven't been able to handle, or had someone on hand to help them handle where needed, but this…

His arms had ached when he woke up. The scar under his eye had throbbed. He'd woken up like someone was sneaking up on him- instantly and with instinctive violence at his fingertips.

He'd known it was going to be bad from the moment he opened his eyes, and had been braced for it all day. The longer it went on, the worse it was going to be.

He'd planned to alert his students when they met up for lunch. They'd all learned to trust each other's instincts, and he'd rather they were prepared them not. So he, Shinsou, Kirishima, and Bakugou were perched out of sight of the front entrance, but within sight of the doors, waiting for Deku to return.

He was sometimes late because his Problem Child was a savior at heart, and couldn't leave well enough alone, and Aizawa and his classmates knew it.

Often enough they didn't panic when it was a bit later than they had agreed to meet.

And then the emergency desk got an alert.

Aizawa had purposely waited near it, further back inside the agency, and behind the noise canceling quirk that kept all confidential information from being heard unless you were within the designated 'hearing' zone.

It was an SOS alert from a hero- Redfoot himself.

Aizawa's stomach _turned_.

Redfoot wasn't working with Midoriya today, but he was near to his Problem Child's route.

Sure enough Yumiko sends in a comm that she and Deku are responding to the alert, and Aizawa just-

Something- his instincts, years of pro hero work- _something_ screams at him to _run_.

He's demanding a comm unit from the desk, and coordinates, before he can think better of it.

He's technically the authority an all the UA students under the agency, so the worker hands over enough for him- and then the three others, when they respond to his reaction- and all four of them are rushing out the building, headed straight for location only seconds after the call comes in.

Aizawa's heart skips a beat when Yumiko calls in the alert that Deku had been caught up in some sort of control quirk.

If the villain turned him against the city…

Midoriya could cause quite a bit of damage to everything before anyone could stop him. If the quirk left Midoriya's smarts in tack for it, and was not just a command based control...the city would _burn_, and Aizawa knew it.

Midoriya would never forgive himself.

The four of them speed up. Kirishima, Shinsou, and Bakugou cursing enough for Aizawa, even as they matched him stride for stride.

**LINEBREAK**

Deku screamed in his own head.

The villain- _call me Siren, honey, you're going to be working with me for a while!-_had a quirk that allowed her control of a person through a kiss. The closer to the 'target's' lips, the stronger the effect, the more complete her control. In order to escape, she would have to kiss him again, though it wouldn't have to be on the lips. Once she had a target under her sway, her voice became the law.

The longer she held a person under, the harder it was for them to fight her, the more it seemed like a good idea to listen to her. Fighting her _hurt_.

Izuku did it anyway.

He fought every step of the way. He ignored the way his head felt like it was going to split straight down the middle, ignored the phantom feeling of his old scars being ripped open again. Ignored the deep and beckoning fog he could feel on the edges of his mind, that whispered it would all _stop_ if he just...gave in.

He would _not_, he would _never_.

But as Aizawa-sensei, Kacchan, Toshi, and Kiri came into view, he wanted to _sob_, wanted to scream.

Because no matter how much he fought her, how much he screamed in his own head, he _couldn't_ stop himself.

His body _wouldn't_ hold back.

He could _kill them_ like this.

It was Izuku's nightmare scenario come to life- one he hadn't thought of before it clawed into reality.

**LINEBREAK**

Aizawa knew as soon as he saw Midoriya, that the green haired child was not in control.

His eyes were glazed and his face utterly slack in a way they never were. His body, while following commands, was stiff. Not slow, but...not as fast as it _could_ be.

He knew then that, despite not being able to _stop_ himself, Izuku had to be fighting the control. All his _power_ was there, but his speed was...manageable, if only just.

The woman didn't seem to realize.

Still, her command was loud and clearly heard by all of them.

"Don't let them catch me, Deku."

The Problem Child settled himself solidly in front of her, arms coming up, and stance shifting into an opening for his Shoot Style, face still completely blank.

The woman's voice was still- deliberate, a taunt- loud enough to be heard when she commanded "If they try to get close, you attack them. You put them down, okay Deku?"

Aizawa _burned_ with rage as he watched this woman taunt them all with the form of their _family_ under her control, as she gave him the command to _hurt_ them.

Aizawa hoped Izuku wouldn't remember any of this, once the quirk lifted, because if he managed to hurt any of them, he was going to be devastated.

From the furious looks on the boys' faces, they had realized it too.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku wondered if it were possible to hyperventilate in your own head, when your body was perfectly fine, and not even in your mental control.

He was doing a fine job of it, at any rate.

Every single hit he gave, had a large percent of One for All behind it.

If he hit them straight on, in the right spot, or right way, he would _kill them_. It wouldn't just hurt them- it would _kill_ them.

They'd die.

And Izuku.

Couldn't.

_Fucking._

_**Stop.**_

It was a terrifying, horrible fight, as Siren kept forcing him to protect her, and get in the way of teacher and classmates. She wasn't letting him defend himself either, so he had taken some hard hits from all four of them.

Siren kept making him lash out, with punches and kicks, and sparking energy that could end a life, without Midoriya regulating it the way he always did.

Aizawa was being forced to not only fight the villain, but fight Izuku, and keep an eye on the fighting between Izuku and the other three.

Because the only thing that would save their lives, if they couldn't dodge, would be Aizawa activating his quirk at just the right moment.

Kiri had already gotten between him and Toshi once, and him and Kacchan twice at this point, his quirk making him more durable than the other two.

Izuku wondered if the tears he felt he should be crying, were actually falling down his face.

**LINEBREAK**

Hitoshi was fucking _furious._

For one, this _bitch_ had a brainwashing quirk of some sort, and Hitoshi just...had some _issues_ with those being used for villainy as a whole. It brought up a lot of _shitty_ childhood memories and taunts.

But the fact she had _used it_ on one of Hitoshi's _best friends?_ One of the _only_ people who had heard what his quirk was, and without even a _moment_ of pause or hesitation, had ranted about how _heroic_ it could be?

Hitoshi wanted to _punch her in the face._

And she wouldn't fucking _answer him_.

She was calling commands to Izuku, and watching the four of them, and the destruction left by every near miss and brush of Izuku's left destruction in its wake.

Hitoshi _needed_ to get close enough to her to _do something_.

He'd already tried to Brainwash Izuku, tried to counter the other quirk with his own, but Izuku wasn't _responding_ to him, and he couldn't use his quirk on him if he didn't.

But what hurt Hitoshi the most, was the dead_dead__**dead**_ look on Izuku's face, even as tears fell down his cheeks.

Hitoshi knew Izuku could _see_ what he was doing as soon as he started crying, but his face never changed. It looked like a lifeless _doll_, and it was _stressing Hitoshi out._

He had to get close enough to get a response from the villain.

But if he did, Izuku would focus on him.

He'd have to work together with everyone, and be careful.

Hitoshi breathed deeply, and braced himself for something _stupid_.

**LINEBREAK**

Katsuki had to be careful with his explosions. Deku wasn't dodging him, or even blocking anything- this _bitch_ wasn't letting him, hadn't given him the command to do it. So any attack that landed, was going to land completely.

Katsuki tried really hard not to stare at the glazed, unfeeling eyes in his _friend's_\- brother's- face. He tried not to notice the tears falling so silently down his cheeks.

If he paid any of that any sort of attention, he was going to _lose it_ and everything would end in rubble.

Instead he caught Hitoshi's eye.

The purple haired bastard had an idea. Katsuki had seen a look just like it in Deku's eyes more than once. He wasn't going to like whatever he was about to do.

A glance at Shitty Hair told him that he had picked up on it as well. Aizawa-sensei glanced at them briefly, the skin around his eyes tightening, and a frown pulling lightly at his lips the only sign he had also read his students' intentions from the brief moment.

Deku fell still in front of the woman, hands up and legs braced, as he scanned over them blandly.

**LINEBREAK**

Izu was such a bright and animated person, that seeing him so very precise and still make Eijirou kind of sick to his stomach, it was so wrong.

His body _ached_, deeply, though his quirk had prevented broken or fractured bones. Still- he'd put himself between Deku and their friends a hundred times, to save his friend the pain of causing lasting harm to the others.

He _hurt_ in a way he hadn't for a long while, but he was whole and alive, and so was everyone else. He could take it.

The silent tears trailing down Deku's face made sure that Eijirou would never bring this up, even if it _did_ hurt.

He couldn't _imagine_ what it would be like to be forced to attack his friends, with no control, even though he could still see it all happening.

He hopped Hitoshi had a good plan.

He'd be ready to execute it at any rate, and if he planned to punch Siren a bit harder than strictly necessary when he finally got to her...well that was his business.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku screamed in his own head.

He'd already almost killed his teacher and friends- _family, every one of them-_ more than once what were they _doing_.

His body ached, and he could feel blood on his face from some of the hits he'd been forced to take protecting Siren.

Siren wasn't accounting for his arms either. But his friends were- they were taking care to dodge and redirect his arms in ways that wouldn't hurt him, and it only made Izuku want to cry harder.

He could tell from Hitoshi's eyes that he had a plan, and the quick exchange of looks between him and the others, told Izuku they were about to do _something_.

He could only be thankful Siren's quirk didn't take his own thoughts into account, only Siren's commands.

So as Aizawa-sensei, Kiri, Kacchan and Hitoshi lunge forward together, and his body obeys the command to not allow them close to Siren, he's carefully tracking them, breaking down the plan automatically.

**LINEBREAK**

Hitoshi could scream with victory when Siren is thrown by a combination attack between Bakugou and Kirishima, straight towards him. Aizawa, Kirishima, and Bakugou are immediately between Izuku and himself and Hitoshi is about to take _vicious_ advantage of the fact Siren is in reach.

His own capture weapon lashes out like a snake, winding around Siren's body, pinning her arms to her chest and winding around her mouth to prevent her from issuing commands.

Hitoshi doesn't need whatever sound she makes to be _understandable_, just _directed at him_. It doesn't even have to be a word, or a sentence. Just a _noise_.

So as she comes closer to his body, Hitoshi doesn't hesitate. He can't knock her out- he needs her to be _awake_.

Still- he's trained for this, he knows what he's doing.

Siren is still wrapped up in his weapon, struggling harshly, when Hitoshi grabs onto the length of his scarf, and pulls harshly.

Siren flies through the air and _slams_ into the ground.

A noise in direct relation to Hitoshi's action- a harsh cry, muffled by his scarf, but it's _enough_.

"TELL DEKU TO STOP"

His voice cracks like a whip, a quick flick of his wrist loosening the scarf to free her mouth, but she's under his hold. Hitoshi has never clung to control so hard, as he issues the command.

"Deku, Stop." her voice is monotone, but it _works_.

Izuku stops.

Hitoshi almost wants to _cry_.

"Tell him to come here, and then release him from your quirk"

Hitoshi can feel her fighting him, but he digs his mental nails into his control. He _refuses_ to let her go.

"Come here Deku."

Izuku steps forward, and the others step out of his way. As soon as he's in reach, the woman reaches up, clasps his hand, pulls the glove away, and presses her lips to skin.

Hitoshi fights the urge to tense and fling her away from Izuku's form.

Izuku's eyes clear, and he sways where he stands. Bakugou and Kirishima are on either side, bracing him up immediately, while Aizawa presses his hands into Izuku's shoulders.

Only when he's certain that Izuku is okay, does Aizawa turn his eyes to Siren, still limp and under Hitoshi's quirk.

Aizawa's eyes are red, his hair and capture scarf floating in his anger as he commands "Give her to me, MindJack."

Hitoshi obeys easily.

He wants to check on Izuku, and Aizawa-sensei won't let her get away with anything else.

Izuku is already repeating apologies, and crying harshly between the other two boys.

Hitoshi is just glad to see him _emoting_ and _okay_.

He kind of wants to kick Siren across the street.

Instead he rushes forward, trusting Aizawa-sensei to guard their back, and throws his arms around Izuku's shoulders.


	4. Human Shield

Midoriya Izuku has lived his entire life aware of the things that go bump in the night.

Most people lost the ability to See with age-because, you see, belief fueled everything.

If one did not _believe_, they could not SEE. The very World worked against them. It would turn their eyes away, make them deaf and blind to anything that could not be explained away as a quirk or act of a villain. Izuku called it the Muffle Effect.

Izuku had never been blind, and as he aged, he never stopped believing, because he could See and had lived with it for years. Because his mother had comforted him, had told him that he imagined things, that it was just a dream, but Izuku _knew_ what was real and what wasn't. She didn't- _couldn't_\- see or hear what he could, because she didn't believe anymore. He understood.

He'd learned to stay quiet, call the monsters 'bad dreams' when talking to others, villains, or other dangers, but never _demons_, never spirits or creatures. Never what they _were_.

He'd kept believing even when his best friend, who used to help him write notes on how to fight the monsters, stopped believing. When Kacchan stopped watching the shadows and the vines that reached down for necks, the roots that tangled up ankles, when he stopped looking at water that was _too dark_ like it would-could, had- dragged bodies into its depths. When Kacchan stopped seeing the shadows and demons with too many eyes staring out of the dark corners of a room, or flinching at the hunting shriek of creatures out of sight.

For a while after Kacchan forgot- stopped believing- Izuku tried to make him see again, tried to show him what had been wiped from his mind, fogged over, and lost, to his lack of belief- the Muffle Effect's other half, the one that kept the world ignorant from those who HAD known or seen before. The one that kept the world together, stopped people from self destructing and destroying everything.

It didn't work, and eventually Izuku stopped trying to make him remember.

_(It was better anyway, he told himself, because if Kacchan didn't remember, didn't SEE, he would be a less likely target. He wouldn't have to deal with any of the things that Izuku did, wouldn't have the nightmares that woke him up in a cold sweat, choking on tears, for the ones he couldn't save-)_

Instead, Izuku took to protecting him- and his classmates and teachers- from the shadows. They couldn't see the dangers, and while that helped to protect them, as Izuku came to find out, that did not make them _safe_.

_(Because, you see, the supernatural would _hunt _those that could see, actively, and with intent to harm. But if an opportunity presented itself? It would be taken no matter what.)_

He made talismans, figured out which shrines actually had working blessings and rituals and then learned them, researched old runes and tricks, and figured out which ones worked against what. Wrote it all down, in a black, blank cover notebook, with the lining covered in runes to stop people who couldn't see from taking or touching it. He created the runes and sigils in blood, tied it to himself, made it harder to read or take or touch.

_(He didn't think about the few people he had keyed into the notebook's runes, so that if he died, it would be taken to them, would be forced into their attention, Muffle Effect or no._

_He didn't think about the entries that were _written _in blood, because he had thought _'this is it' _and wanted to make sure the few people he had keyed into his notebook would be able to fight whatever was going to kill him.)_

He took the label superstitious, on top of quirkless, and Deku gladly, if it meant he could protect those around him.

And it _hurt_ that no one believed, the way that Izuku did, the way he _knew_ spirits and demons, and ghouls, and creatures, were real.

But Izuku never slowed down, never stopped, because if he didn't act who _would? _

If _he_ wasn't the shield humanity needed, who would be?

**LINEBREAK**

For a long while, when he was younger, Izuku thought it was the activation of a quirk that stopped people from _seeing_. He didn't realize it was belief.

That as children, when adults said '_everything is fine, it's your imagination, there's nothing there'_ or '_it was just a bad dream_', when they told the children '_it was just your- their- a- quirk…'_ eventually it became the _truth_.

And every child forgot- had their memories Muffled- about why they had an instinctive, consuming fear of the dark, with monsters in every corner, under every bed, and in every closet.

Why they swore the vines or branches of trees reached for them, why they told everyone something was in the water. Why they swore their parents needed to check for monsters under the bed, and leave a light on.

They forgot.

Izuku never did.

_(Eventually he would learn that aside from children, the people most likely to _keep _believing in the supernatural were the quirkless, who had no quirk explanation for their encounters with it, and who often had to watch their peers with quirks carefully, because they needed to know when to get out of the way. And so noticed all the things that were out of place in the world.)_

He would learn that the reason adults, and even other children never _saw_ his fights and encounters with the supernatural, never heard anything, why his mother never did, was the fact that those who didn't See _couldn't_. The Muffle Effect worked to hide them from outsiders.

He would learn to hide what he did, what he saw, carefully lest he ended up in a situation where he was _trapped_ in a room surrounded by demons and couldn't escape.

_(He'd never seen the inside of a therapy office, but he could sense the demons that clung to the shadows in the place from _blocks _away. The ones that looked for weak mental barriers, and breaks, and stuck their claws into them. _

_The idea of being forced inside, stuck in a room, and unable to _leave_, while the person that was supposed to _help _him couldn't even _see _what was there? Would try to tell him it was all in his head?_

_Izuku _couldn't _do that to himself. It would make the issues he needed help with worse.)_

It wasn't that he didn't think therapy could help- he just...needed someone who was 'in the know' and he'd never seen an adult that believed in person.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku continued through his life and school years along the same vein, taking care of everything he could, hiding how _real_ everything was, laughing off calls of superstitious, waving off the talismans he carried, or handed out, the bruises and cuts that his peers could _see,_ the ones that weren't Muffled due to supernatural influence, as bullies or being caught up in a villain fight, or tripping, or roughhousing with friends.

Kacchan had picked up how he was hurt, and he'd stepped into a sort of protective role, because while they might not have been as close as before, he didn't like seeing Izuku come to school covered in bruises or cuts, carefully hidden from teachers and peers, but not so much around Bakugou, his old friend.

_(Who used to See, who used to have matching sets, who used to __**Know**__.)_

And then he meets All Might.

He finds an adult that can _See_.

He learns about One for All, is offered a chance, a choice.

He is told that One or All is capable of helping him fight the unseen things, the power of seven- eight, for Izuku,- people behind him. All Might tells him about being quirkless, and seeing creatures no one else could. He pulls out talismans tucked under his shirt, and out of sight, but present. He _talks_ to Izuku about the creatures and horrors that lurk just a step out of sync with the rest of the world and Izuku could _cry_.

All Might- Toshinori, Toshi-sensei- _**understands**_.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku goes to UA with a lighter heart, a quirk, and dreams for the future.

He learns quickly that, though Toshi was considered 'untouchable' thanks to his mastery and use of One for All against the supernatural, Midoriya is _not_. The creatures, demons and beings had learned to _fear_ Toshinori, learned to know better than to attack the blonde man, but they sense that Midoriya is _new_.

That he has no idea what he's doing with this powerhouse of a quirk, and it acts like a giant neon sign to them. Attracts them.

Toshi-sensei promises that they will eventually learn to leave him be, that they will learn to poke him is to poke a sleeping dragon, but that is not today.

For now, Izuku is forced to adjust to stronger, more persistent attacks that his classmates and teachers _can't_ see or hear.

And then the Sports Festival happens.

And Midoriya Izuku meets Shinsou Hitoshi.

And they both take one look at each other, at the way they watch the shadows, the corners, the Things with too many eyes, the teeth that flash just to the side...and they _know_ that there is someone else who can _See_, like they can See.

When all is said and done, Izuku goes _looking_ for Shinsou.

**LINEBREAK**

The boys bond over the weeks, the villain attacks, and the supernatural encounters they suffer from. They talk about how they learned to See. Shinsou winces when he learns that Midoriya never _stopped_ Seeing.

Midoriya winces back, when he hears Shinsou whisper about the bad foster homes, demons and negative spirits clinging to the walls. How one can only hide under the bed as a small child so often, before something in the dark gets antsy, and takes a chance.

Because not _Seeing_ does not mean _safe_. It just means a more difficult target, the less likely one.

Shinsou pulls his pants leg up to the knee, and shows off the dark shadowy scar in the shape of a grasping hand around his ankle.

The one that most people wouldn't see, because the shadows are still _there_, in the scar, and they swirl just a little. Midoriya pulls the back of his shirt up, and shows off the claws that cross from his shoulder to his hip, three deep marks that gleam silver like fog in moonlight.

The scars none of his classmates can see, because they are still holding tinges of the magic that laid them into his back.

They carefully, slowly, over months and conversations, reveal each supernatural scar, the ones that hold too much Other in them to be visible to anyone who doesn't _know_.

Izuku introduces Shinsou to Toshi-sensei. He offers his friend the refuge of an adult who _understands_, and Toshi the haven of someone who doesn't see _All Might_ when they look at him. Another person to share his hard earned knowledge with, because Toshi-sensei may have passed One for All on, but he had been fighting the Supernatural long before he had been All Might.

**LINEBREAK**

Then the dorms come along, and Shinsou is transferred into Izuku's class.

His friends and classmates grin and tease, about 'Deku finding friends just as superstitious about things as you'. Both boys grin and shrug it off, tease back, but they still offer talismans and trinkets, and their classmates and teachers still take them.

_(Each for different reasons, to make the boys feel better, at first, for the little ways these charms and trinkets seem to _work _even when logic says they shouldn't.)_

Izuku feels horrible that, by moving into the dorms with his classmates, he has brought the supernatural creatures that track and attack him. He applies himself harder to protecting the dorm buildings, and Shinsou is right beside him.

Their classmates don't bat an eye at the sage and incense burning anymore, the herb bags, the little runes carved into every doorway and window sill. The small rituals performed at the compass points and the heart of the building. They accept it as a 'quirk' of theirs so to speak, and move on.

And for a long time, that's enough.

It's manageable for both of them, huddled together, eyes on the dark corners of the room, two people powering the rune wards, and talismans, making the workload both more and less. They learn to support each other in the chaos, help each other handle the other world and it's creatures that they'd been handling alone for years.

It's nice to have someone there to help bandage and explain injuries and cleanup after encounters. Someone they can go to and not need to answer questions. Someone who will watch over the other when the need to sleep overwhelms the insomnia induced by _knowing better._

Until, suddenly, it's _not_.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku _screams_.

He screams, and no one can hear him. There is no help coming for either of them. They've trapped themselves inside with it.

He's not sure when a Higher Demon got into the school, how it worked its way past the runes and herb lines, through the incense and sigils he had covered the dorm walls and grounds in.

Shinsou and he had been forced to box the demon into the common room of the dorm, laying battle runes down to hold it in place so that it would not rampage across the building.

A Higher Demon wouldn't be bound by his classmates belief or lack of it. If the creature got free, it would _kill_ someone. Wouldn't be satisfied until blood spilled across the ground and a life was taken.

Shinsou and he were working desperately to contain and handle it, but it was so _strong_.

And no one could see, or hear the destruction in the living room, because they did not believe, and the Muffle Effect was therefore in effect, and the barriers the boys had laid only reinforced the Muffle Effect. The cameras wouldn't work, the supernatural always causing what would later be called 'a glitch' or loss of power.

They'd _trapped_ themselves, and if Shinsou left to get Toshi- now quirkless, but still holding all the skills he had before, when dealing with Other- Izuku would have to hold the demon here _alone_.

He'd have to survive it.

"Shinsou!" Izuku's voice cracked with the force of his scream, and his friend snarled back, throwing another herb mixture onto the demon, which shrieked as it came into contact with it.

"I'm _not_ leaving you, you absolute fucking _moron!"_

Izuku cursed, ducking as a chair flew over his head, shattering apart like a _toy_ against their barrier.

"If you _don't_ neither _one_ of us is going to make it out of here alive! _**Damn it, Hitoshi! GO!"**_

Shinsou screamed, loud and furious, and guttural "_**GOD DAMN IT IZUKU!"**_

And Izuku knew he had won, knew Shinsou- Hicchan- knew he was right. He still spoke up anyway.

"Our classmates, our _friends_, are outside that barrier Hicchan! If we don't stop this thing here, it's going to _kill_ all of them! We need help!"

Hitoshi gave another wordless, wounded sounding scream, as he whirled away from Izuku and went crashing through the barrier.

Izuku turned to face the demon- a _High Demon_\- alone.

His body stood firm, his hands didn't shake, his eyes were steady. He stood no chance alone, not really, but his friends' _lives_ were on the line. So he would not- _could not_\- waver.

Izuku reached inwards, for the multi-colored lights that represented each previous holder of One for All in his mind, and he _pulled_.

**LINEBREAK**

Katsuki wasn't sure what made him get up.

It was three in the morning. He should be asleep for _at least_ another two hours, but something woke him up with a jolt, and the hair on the back of his neck and arms stood on end.

He rolled to his feet, and padded for the door.

His instincts screamed.

He was silent, crouched down and creeping across the floor on the balls of his feet. His eyes scanned the area, and he tried to ignore how the shadows seemed to stretch further than they should, reaching for him.

He was just on edge. It was his mind screwing with him. Or Tokoyami.

He turned towards the common room, after creeping over the stairs, easily dodging the places that would make noise, following some voiceless tug in his gut.

There was nothing out of place at first, when he looked.

But his instincts _screamed_, and he kept catching flickers of too fast movement in the dark out of the corner of his eye.

_(And Katsuki wouldn't realize it, but as a child, he had heard Deku- his _friend_, someone he knew for years and years, insist that monsters were real. His friend who he knew was analytical and smart, and liked to have facts on hand._

_His friend who insisted that monsters and demons and shadow creatures were _real_. A friend that would continue to do so, and even when he stopped saying anything out loud, __**acted**_ _like everything was real, with rituals, charms, shrines and prayers._

_A friend who, even when they drifted apart, offered him those charms with a desperate, scared glint in his eyes, and asked him to keep them..._

_And maybe Katsuki had never _believed _enough to see completely, but subconsciously? _

_Subconsciously, he wondered why someone like Deku would believe if it _wasn't _real. _

_So over the years, he would see flickers, moments where the Muffle Effect would waver, but not fall. He would notice Deku had a black notebook with no title, that he couldn't quite focus on, that he never remembered until it was out again, that never seemed important even when it was.)_

Izuku had always- would probably always- write a way for Bakugou to get through his barrier seals. It had been a habit formed back when he learned them as a child, when Katsuki could See, and went out with him. He'd never fixed it, even when Bakugou stopped coming along.

The combination of his written allowance into the barrier, and his subconscious belief in all things Other, the way the Muffle Effect was _weak_ on Bakugou Katsuki, allowed him to step further into the common room.

Far enough, that he gets past the barrier, and suddenly, there's noise.

It's the only thing that saves Izuku's life.

**LINEBREAK**

Katsuki walks into the common room, despite a voice in the back of his head screaming at him to stop and turn around.

He walks into the common room, and then he freezes.

Because the room is _too dark_, but Deku is there. Deku is _there_, he's _bleeding_, and he's pinned to the back wall, being dragged up towards the ceiling.

He's screaming, but it's like he's under water.

Katsuki is looking right at him, but it's like he's three rooms over, yelling into a pillow.

Everything in him screeches _wrong__**wrong**_**wrong** and he shudders with the force of it.

"Katsuki!" Deku's voice is just barely there, the shadows trying to swallow him, trying to hide what Katsuki is seeing, the walls flickering like shadow-flames. "Katsuki _please! The salt! Throw the salt on the coffee table! KATSUKI!"_

And Katsuki can hear him, wants to do what he asks, because Deku _hadn't called him Kacchan_, but his mind is frozen between two extremes.

Seeing, hearing, and wanting to forget, to explain it away. Seeing, but not understanding.

And then Deku makes a choked, agonized noise, and sobs "KATSUKI!"

And Bakugou doesn't think. He lunges for the salt (boiled and dried out with holy water, seeped with various herbs) grabs it and throws towards whatever is holding Deku off the ground.

Something _screams_ like nails on a chalkboard, and Deku _falls_, and suddenly, _suddenly_ Katsuki can **See**.

The fog clears away, the old memories he had been convinced were nightmares or dreams, faded and out of focus, are clear as crystal, and everything is _loud_.

He _remembers_.

"IZU!" rips out his throat, and he's lunging around the _thing_ in front of his old friend, tracking old danger zones just like he used to.

_(And trying not to __**scream**__, because he's been so, so very blind this entire time. There are _so many _things in the dark. So many __**scars**_ _on his __**brother**__, that he couldn't see before, how many Things had Izu fought all by himself, because Katsuki was __**blind?**__)_

Izuku rolls away from the demon, towards Katsuki's voice, and the blonde lunges forward to help him up and pull him backwards.

"Katsu-" Izuku chokes, coughing harshly- there's finger-shaped bruises on his throat, Katsuki feels sick- "High Demon- get- get back-"

Katsuki scrambles further back, old memories surfacing. "How the _actual fuck_ did a High Demon get in here?!"

Izuku is still coughing, but he shakes his head, a vague shift in his shoulders that might have been a shrug.

"We can't take a high demon alone, Izu." Katsuki sounds much calmer than he feels, and even as he says it, he scans for any advantage he can get, because maybe they _can't_ take a High Demon alone, but they can't _not_ stop it either.

"Hicchan-" Izuku wheezes, cutting himself off, and a spark of One for All skittering over his legs, as he wraps an arm over Katsuki's waist and launches them both sideways, dodging the enraged lunge of the demon by inches.

They both scramble to keep together, even as they try to stay ahead of the infuriated demon trying to kill them.

Just as they're about to be cornered, there's the sound of rushing footsteps and then Hitoshi comes barreling through the barrier, throwing a bag full of herbs that force the demon to skid to a stop, rearing up with a shriek that rings through bone.

Toshi is a step behind him, his voice _booming_ over the common room in seconds, as he chants through a ritual Izuku knows, but hadn't realized would _work_ with this demon.

To choose a wrong ritual- especially with a _High_ Demon would have made the situation much, _much_ worse. But if Toshi had chosen, Izuku would trust.

He adds his voice to Toshi and Hitoshi's, raspy and wheezing, but clear and properly pronounced.

When it stops, and the very air goes still, the demon gives one last echoing, cracking roar, before, with the sound of shattering glass, it is banished back to it's home realm.

There's a moment of quiet, strained and ready for another attack-

And then Izuku's legs fold, and all three of the others call for him-

"IZUKU!


	5. Waterlogged

Izuku laughed, happy and chatting with his friends and keeping an eye on Aizawa-sensei as he led the group through their hike.

They were headed up into the mountains for a rescue simulation, and the class had been split into groups.

Aizawa-sensei was leading Izuku, Kirishima, Bakugou, and Shinsou through their simulation. The other teachers had split 3-A between them, different teachers having taken their own groups of four to do different exercises throughout the mountain. Then entire exercise collection on the mountain was meant to last for a week.

After this exercise, two days from now, Aizawa-sensei and his group would move onto the next exercise, rotating with the other groups until everyone had done all the options on the mountain, changing location from exercise to exercise offering the students a chance to camp in various terrain and practice survival skills.

Izuku snorted as Kacchan shoved Shinsou playfully, rolling his eyes as Kirishima laughed at both of them.

Aizawa-sensei glanced back at them periodically, and his eyes were soft and fond even he kept climbing the trail, calling suggestions and tips back to them while needed.

Thankfully, all four- five including Sensei- had hiking experience. Kacchan and Kiri had gone out to hike often since first year, while Izuku had joined once their relationship had mended more, and had later dragged Shinsou along into it, so Aizawa didn't have to watch as closely as he would with someone not as experienced.

They climbed for an hour, laughing and chatting, and asking their Sensei for stories and tips on various scenarios, while they went.

Eventually, they reached a high point, the forest opening into a sort of clearing, trees surrounding them on all sides, but a large river cutting across the clearing, and disappearing into the trees further out of sight.

They had passed quite a few beautiful waterfalls on the way up, and Izuku wondered if this was the river that lead to them.

"We're going to be learning techniques to use during water rescues." Aizawa-sensei's voice was calm, but carried, and his students straightened, honing in on his instructions automatically. "The weather is supposed to be sunny and calm here for the next few days, and this river is a good place to practice swimming and rescue drills. Each of you will have a turn being 'rescued' and 'rescuing' each other, or more than one of you. You will also be 'rescuing' myself, to give you experience saving someone taller and heavier than you."

**LINEBREAK**

Once the instructions are out of the way, the boys suit up into their hero costumes.

Aizawa had explained it as the fact that, as heroes, they wouldn't have the chance to change into swim trunks before they jumped into the water after a civilian. The person being 'rescued' stayed in costume to simulate rescuing hero partners with various equipment on their person.

Aizawa allowed each of them to take a turn rescuing each other, making sure to remind them that, even though everyone was trying to remain limp, as if they were unconscious, a person who was awake would subconsciously support some of their own weight.

By the time everyone had rescued everyone else in the student group, they're all ready to climb out and hydrate, grabbing some food before going right back in, this time to handle rescuing more than one person at a time.

Aizawa-sensei's voice is a soothing backdrop on the exercise, the teacher ready to step in at the first sign of something going wrong, and calling corrections where he needs to, approaching and rearranging holds and sharing different swimming techniques where he can.

By the time the boys crawl out, drying off, setting up their camp, and changing into dry clothes, they all ache from the work they put in.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku stretches hard, preparing himself mentally for the second day of rescue training.

This time the students will be working to 'rescue' Aizawa-sensei. They've all changed into their hero costumes, dried out by the fire the night before, but about to be soaked again.

He takes a deep breath, eyeing the others from the bank as they all take their turn in the water.

And then it's his turn.

He slips into the water, carefully going over the steps to check a victim's state, and upon determining that they are not conscious enough to help themselves or their rescuer, gets ready to heave his teacher into a more comfortable position, so he can haul him towards shore, to check for any serious injuries.

He gets ready to haul them both out of the river, the others further up the bank, on higher ground, packing away their little campsite, when the hair on the back of his neck stands on end.

Deku hauls Aizawa into the shoreline, scrambling up, and searching the area.

His breath catches, and he hollers "AIZAWA-SENSEI!" with a horrible sense of panic blooming in his chest.

Aizawa-sensei springs to his feet, dripping water, but alert as he follows Izuku's eye-line, along with the other three boys, up on higher ground where they had set up.

Aizawa runs towards Izuku, yelling at the other three to get to higher ground, even as he herds Izuku towards the trails leading up, out of the lower areas of the clearing.

Izuku already knows, watching the rush of black, muddy waters, carrying entire trees, and debris, that they aren't going to get high enough, _fast_ enough.

He tries anyway, just like he knows Aizawa-sensei is trying.

His scarf is not long enough to reach the trees on the outer edges of the clearing, and there is nothing to grab ahold of this close to the river.

Kirishima, Bakugou, and Shinsou are luckier, being in the campground section on the clearing, much higher, and on study stone, lifted up and off the ground, and away from the river.

Izuku screeches, as the waters reach them both, the quick moving water enough to knock them both off their feet.

Aizawa-sensei's hand is a vice as he hauls Izuku closer to his body, both of them bracing as the water sweeps them down, following the riverbed.

They both hear the others scream for them, but Izuku can't spare a moment to think about it, both of them struggling to get their feet under them, and stay above the wreckage of the forest and everything else that might have gotten swept into the flood. The voices become distant much quicker than Izuku thought they would, the speed of the water unbelievable and so very powerful.

They can't fight it well enough to get out, to get their feet under them, or brace against anything to haul themselves out.

Aizawa-sensei curses sharply, and when Izuku looks to see why his heart tries to escape throat, a strangled noise of terror ripping it's way free of his mouth.

The river lead into a waterfall, and the floodwaters are headed straight for the churrining waters, straight over the edge.

_(Izuku remembers suddenly that they had passed three different waterfalls on their way up to their location, and all he can think about is how they're plunging straight towards the drops, and whatever lies at the bottom.)_

When they go careening over the edge, Izuku can't stop the shriek that rips out of his throat, the way his hands tighten like vices around his teacher, the way One for All sparks over his skin, like the sheer _nothing_ under their bodies would suddenly provide purchase, would allow him to leap upwards and out of the water.

Perhaps one of the most terrifying things about the drop, is that it's _not_ straight down, over the edge of the waterfall. The sheer momentum of the floodwater shoots the two of them _forward_ instead.

He can hear his teacher's hoarse, cut off, shout, before the two of them are swept back into the brackish waters, choking as the impact causes both of them to suck in instinctive breathes.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku is the one to see the second waterfall coming, and he is not afraid to say he cursed, bright and colorful, and so exhausted, in his teacher's ear. They'd both been fighting the current and clinging to each other, and it had been harsh and difficult work.

Aizawa-sensei hissed a quiet curse of his own when he turned his eyes towards the problem, and spotted the second waterfall approaching too quickly.

Izuku isn't ready when they both go soaring over the edge, and he's _certainly_ not prepared for his teacher to go limp and loose against him when he smashes his head into _something_ in the water when they land.

Izuku is forced suddenly to support his teacher's weight-_and __**this**_ _is what he Sensei meant when he said someone truly unconscious would be heavier than someone pretending to be-_ and try to fight for anything at all that might save them.

There's nothing in reach but, if he's careful, and times this _perfectly_….he can see, further downstream and right before the third waterfall, there's a small outcropping of stone.

It looks a bit like an island of stone though it was probably one of the high-ground campgrounds, now mostly submerged.

It's _safe_ though, dry and free of the hazards of the flood. Izuku will be able to check on Aizawa-sensei, and himself.

One for All crackled across his skin, as it has been since Aizawa-sensei had passed out. He has nothing to bounce off of, to aide in getting free of the current, but he is making slow progress towards safety as he fights to save them both.

He mutters curses the entire way, his limbs heavy like lead, and everything screaming at him to just _stop_.

But he can't.

If he stops, he dies. If he stops, _Aizawa-sensei_ dies. If he stops…

Well, he just has to keep going.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku's breathes are stuttering, shaking things, verging on hyperventilating.

But Aizawa-sensei is laid out next to him, hauled out of the water as much as possible, and Izuku is so thankful that last desperate bid had worked.

They're _safe_, just shy of the third waterfall, covered in mud and dripping water, but _alive_.

Izuku's body quivers with exhaustion and left over terror, but he's so _thankful_ to be out of the water.

His limbs shake as he pushes himself to a sitting position, pulling Aizawa-sensei even further up out of the water, carefully checking over his teacher's head wound and then the rest of him for anything _else_.

Aside from the head wound, his teacher seems to be alright. At which point, Izuku checks himself over, just to make sure his insane pain tolerance and adrenaline hadn't blinding him to anything life threatening.

He's bleeding from a few places, but nothing is broken, and he's _alive_.

**LINEBREAK**

By the time Aizawa wakes up, they're still trapped on the island of stone, and the floodwaters are still rushing by, for all that they have considerably slowed.

And Izuku now has a tiny black waterlogged kitten cradled to his chest, making these tiny little feeble meows.

Maybe it's the head wound, but Aizawa can't help the confused "Where did you get a cat Problem Child?"

Izuku startles, and then lights up when he sees his teacher awake. "Her name is Splash. I'm keeping her. She was being washed downriver, but she floated by close enough for me to grab, so I did."

Aizawa had already forced himself up, carefully checking over his student, but he can't help the way his lips twitch at how adamant his student sounds about it.

"She's cute." is all the man offers, even as he pulls his capture weapon free of his neck, and rearranges it, beginning to scan the area for anything they can use to get help or get out of this situation.

Izuku smiled up at him, and Aizawa is punched with the relief that they both made it out of this _alive_ if not in the best of shape.

"Thank you for saving me, problem child."

"Of course, Aizawa-sensei!"

Now...to get the attention of rescue crews, because his other students would absolutely have called for help after they were washed away, if no one was on their way in the first place.

_(It would later be revealed the flash flood was the work of a water-quirked villain, which was why there had been no warnings in the area for the entire week that Class 3-A was supposed to be training there.)_


	6. Dragged Away

**This one was inspired by a post on Tumblr (if you go to my profile and search 'magical healing' it should come up, or it's linked in my AO3 account)**

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku had been _so excited_ to get his quirk. He'd been excited since he understood it would help him save people, since he'd understood what he might be able to do.

He didn't have the toe joint- babies were checked when they were born, so he knew he was in all likelihood _going_ to have something at the very least.

He expected to have a quirk like his mother or father, maybe a combination of the two.

But he was one of the rare cases where his quirk mutated, and became something entirely different.

Izuku could _heal_.

He was able to heal people, his quirk manifesting as a sort of...he'd call it magic, almost. Like an old role playing game. He had a 'mana' bar, that tracked how much energy he had, and he could use it to fix wounds. Either completely, or just enough to scar.

Izuku was _thrilled_ to be able to fix things that would otherwise be impossible, deadly, and crippling for others with just a bit of concentration and understanding.

He was excited when he got to show Kacchan, and Kacchan lit up, because Izuku's quirk was going to be _amazing_.

They played with it, when they went out to play in the woods, seeing what Izuku could heal, how much of it he could heal before he got tired. They learned that, the more Izuku was in shape, the more his 'mana bar' would grow.

As soon as Izuku realized his ability to heal depended on his physical shape, he threw himself into whatever he could, learning hand-to-hand, parkour, and various classes that made him exercise but would also help him being a hero.

But he was a child, and while he was an intelligent child, verging into 'genius' territory, determined and focused, and active...he did not think about what _others_ would do with a quirk like his.

Midoriya Izuku, and Bakugou Katsuki were only nine years old, when they were taken from the park they loved to play at. One for his quirk, and the other because he refused to leave Izuku behind.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku shivered, terrified and hungry, but pressed as far back in his cell as he could get.

It didn't take him long to figure out that he was being held in an area that was meant for those with quirks like his own. He wondered what happened to Kacchan. He wondered what would happen to _him_.

The other healers were quiet, and any time they looked at him, they looked _pitying_. They didn't answer any questions, and Izuku had never wanted to go _home_ as much as he did in that moment.

He would eventually learn that he had been taken by a villain who _sold_ people- mostly kids like him, though not always- to the highest bidder.

Izuku knew, when he was brought on stage, and there was a person lying there bleeding all over the wooden floor, he was meant to show off his quirk. He didn't think about that- never even registered it consciously- because the moment he saw the kid with lavender hair, stomach split open and _about to die-_

Well Izuku moved before he could think, ripping himself out of the hands that had led him to the stage, and throwing himself beside the boy- terrified desperate lavender eyes meet his- where he pressed his hand to the wound and _shoved_.

"It's gonna be okay, It's gonna be okay, my name is Izuku, I'm here now, It's okay. I'm going to heal you, what's your name?" Izuku babbled, frantic and terrified as he worked to reverse what had been done to the boy under his hands, but he paused for him to answer all the same.

"M-my name is Hitoshi." the boy's voice is the smallest of whispers, but hunched over him, Izuku can hear it, and he pulls a shaking smile onto his face anyway.

"Nice to meet you, Hitoshi. I'm gonna fix you up, okay?"

Izuku exhales harshly, hunched over the lavender haired boy, and so relieved and terrified he _shakes_ with it.

The wound that would have killed him is _gone_.

And then suddenly, Izuku can hear the voices- the crowd- the way the person who had taken him and Kacchan, is calling numbers- _sale prices_\- out to the people around the stage.

And he gasps sharply, when he realizes where he us, stepping protectively in front of Hitoshi without thinking about it, as he scans the crowd for Kacchan, terrified he wont see him.

He doesn't.

But he does get sold, a 'package deal' with the boy he had saved to a man with long brown hair and green eyes, and teeth to sharp and jagged for a human's face.

Hitoshi clings to his side, the other hand brushing over the wound that isn't there anymore, pressing into unblemished flesh like he could still feel it.

They both have to be dragged off the stage, and to the man's side, quirk nullifying cuffs attached to Izuku's wrists, and then attached to a chain strung up next to the man. Hitoshi had already been wearing the cuffs, no chain, but no visible way to take them off either. Izuku gets the same pair, and though neither of them have chains between their wrists, they still have places to _attach_ them, and that is what they do to secure them next to their buyer.

Izuku feels _sick_, as he watches child after child, some younger than _him _be sold off like toys.

And then, kicking and screaming, and clad in quirk suppressing cuffs, watches Kacchan be dragged out onto the stage.

He makes some sort of noise, and jerks forward against his chains, trying to reach his best friend, even with the restrictions.

He doesn't see the man who bought him eye him consideringly, and then do the same to Kacchan.

By the end, with how difficult Kacchan appears to be, the man who bought him buys Kacchan too.

It's about the only thing Izuku is relieved about. From the way Kacchan stills when he sees him, and the look in his eyes under the angry terror, he is relieved too.

**LINEBREAK**

The man who bought them- Yamamoto-sama- owns a Gladiator Ring. Or that's what he calls it. Izuku just knows that its a ring for quirk users to fight each other, and he's used to heal them.

Yamamoto-sama, from what Izuku was able to pick up, snoop around, and overhear, likes to 'buy' his fighters young, so that he could 'train them up properly'.

What it means is that Izuku heals kids _his age_\- nine, up to around fifteen, and rarely anyone older. Izuku wants to _scream_, he'll never get the image of a nine year old girl with a sword in her gut out of his head. Never forget that Yamamoto-sama had made him _heal_ her, and then sent her _back out to fight again._ Never forget that he saw her two more times before they couldn't get her to him fast enough, and she died as they brought her to him.

What it means is that, as the years pass by, Izuku grows around these fighters, watches them grow older, learns names and stories. He sees the ways where they walk into his healing room, and they don't walk out. Not because he didn't heal them, but because _they don't want to fight anymore_. So they just….stop.

What it means is that Izuku grows up with nightmares of blood and gore, because he's seen so many different ways a human could- _should_\- die, before he looks Death in the eye and says "Not Today".

It means that Izuku grows attached to the people he sees most often, twenty children his age, and one who was older but helped hold them together best, who learned hard and fast how to fight and not die, who all got taken young and who never blamed Izuku for healing them.

And over the years, when Yamamoto-sama learns that Izuku's physical shape affects his ability to heal, he learns to fight beside those kids, how to sneak them extra food, or medicines, things that Yamamoto-sama would punish him for doing.

Because the thing that all twenty of these kids had in common?

They had wanted to be _heroes_, and even in the face of _this_ that conviction had never wavered.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku met Dabi for the first time the day that he was rushed out of his 'office' and into the Ring, only to see blue fire _everywhere_.

He would learn that Dabi had once been called Todoroki Touya, and his rage on this particular day, had been due to his youngest brother- Todoroki Shouto- being hurt. He'd been murderous and vicious at anyone who came near them, the azure flames licking at everyone who even breathed too closely.

But Izuku could see Shouto, and he would _die_ if someone didn't help him.

So Izuku rushed _towards_ the fire, and didn't think a thing of it when he used what his group called 'The Doctor Voice' to snap at Dabi to step aside and let him save his brother.

Dabi had done it with the warning that, if Shouto died, he would burn Izuku to ash _slowly_, one piece at a time.

Izuku had snapped something snarky back, and shoved his way towards the boy his age- eleven at the time- and fixed him up as if nothing had happened, as if he _hadn't_ just been able to see his lungs breath in his chest a moment ago.

Izuku could _feel_ how murderous the boy- a 15 year old at the time they met- had felt. He radiated it, as well as a desperation and terror that had driven Izuku to _move_ when common sense should have screamed 'run away.

Izuku had been the one to introduce Dabi and his sibling to his group, dragging him over during the communal meals every day, until the two Todoroki children came over on their own.

The meals were supposed to 'promote' bonds between fighters and healers, but most everyone seemed to avoid as much bonding as possible.

The kids around his own age had always seemed to be an exception, though it had originally been Kacchan, himself, and Hitoshi that sat together and talked.

Eventually the number had grown to include those who would- in another life- have been his classmates in high school.

It was…._nice_ to have an older brother figure that took care of all of them.

**LINEBREAK**

There were days that Izuku _hated_ his quirk.

Or, he hated what he had been made to _do_ with it.

Those days were usually the ones where his patients- who he healed- woke up and _broke_ under his hands.

Because it didn't _matter_ that they had been nearly cut in half by a quirk or weapon, they were whole _now_ and that meant they had to go fight again.

It didn't _matter_ that they had a new scar, from nearly losing a limb, they were healed, now go finish the fight.

Or the days that Izuku healed his patient completely- usually a favorite of Yamamoto-sama- and they broke down because there was _nothing left_ where they had been _dying_ only moments before.

He hated the scars he left behind on the fighters who could never rest, because they were bleeding everywhere, hungry and tired, and then they came to Izuku and he healed them up. He healed them, and the Yamamoto-sama sent them _right back_ out to the Ring, because they were still tired and hungry, but no longer bleeding and that was _enough_.

His friends had never blamed him, when he healed them as if they had never been hurt, or left scars behind when he was so exhausted it was a miracle he even knew what he was was healing at all.

But some days, well, Izuku blamed _himself_ enough for all of them.

**LINEBREAK**

The Ring had moved constantly, ever since Izuku could remember.

He had eventually realized that it was not only to avoid detection, but due to the few 'high profile' fighters Yamamoto-sama had bought. People- children- of _Pro Heroes_ or well connected families. People that would be _recognized_ by looks or quirk or name.

People like Dabi and Shouto, or Momo, or Tenya.

People whose parents had the ability and connections to _keep looking_ for their kids and actually _find them_.

And eventually, they would be found, if they stayed still too long or were predictable in moving on.

But the day eventually came along _anyway_, when Izuku was 14.

The day Pro Hero Eraserhead, working with Pro Hero Endeavor, and Pro Hero Nedzu, and- blowing him away later- Midoriya Inko- finally managed predict and attack the Ring when it stopped.

The day Midoriya Izuku and everyone he had healed, and all the others, were found and _saved_.


	7. Isolation

**Zombie AU! Or the start of one, so some possible disturbing ****imagery**** later on!**

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku shook, pressed hard into the wall of an abandoned home.

He wanted to go _home_.

But where was home?

Where was he supposed to _go_ when there was nothing left? When he wasn't sure if anyone had even survived?

It was something out of ancient pre-quirk history horror movies.

_Zombies_.

Who would have even _thought_ about the dead come back to life?

The only saving grace of the whole damn thing, was that if they didn't have a mutation to their body, the zombies didn't have quirks.

Izuku had long feared being _alone_ over everything else. He'd feared being left behind. He'd never imagined that when the world ended, when it went to shit, he'd be by himself.

He'd gotten special permission to visit his mother, to celebrate her birthday. Kacchan and some of his other friends had given him presents to give to her, and he'd gone. They'd celebrated, had fun, and she'd asked him to go to the store for her.

He'd gone, and while he was in the seafood section, picking up fish, everything had gone to _shit_.

He'd run towards the screams, of course he had, he still couldn't stop himself from wanting to _help_ people.

He'd been thinking about how Aizawa-sensei had offered to drive him down to the store, just in case. Deku was a high profile target for the League after all, but as third years Deku's class had some leeway.

Izuku had shaken his head, said 'that's okay Sensei, stay with mom, I'll be right back.'

Aizawa-sensei had agreed with the promise that he would call if anything happened.

And, unknowing of what was about to happen, all Izuku had thought in that moment was that Aizawa-sensei was going to be furious he got caught up in a villain attack while out on his own, and he'd best call him as soon as it was over, so Aizawa-sensei didn't find out from the news.

Only...it wasn't a villain attack.

It was infected pouring into the grocery store from the streets, people screaming, and then coming back as one of the infected after they stopped thrashing. It was blood and terror and horror.

Izuku threw himself forward, herding civilians out of the store, protecting those he could, and fighting a slow growing terror as he realized there _was_ no villain to defeat to stop all of this, that it was happening, and would keep happening, that he could hear the screams all over the town.

As he realized nothing _stopped_ the infected, they just kept _coming_.

And then he'd thought of his mother.

His hands shook, but he couldn't abandon those who needed his help _now_. He was a _hero_, he couldn't leave these people to fend for themselves. So he'd braced for the long haul and kept fighting, praying that whatever had happened, it hadn't reached his mother.

That if it _had_, Aizawa-sensei would keep her safe.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku had spent days fighting his way back home. What was originally a thirty minute walk turning into a horror story. People dead, dying, coming back to life the entire journey back, people calling out for help, recognizing him from UA.

Izuku had stopped to help where he could, doggedly working his way home, but it had eaten into his time. And he'd learned _very_ quickly that going out at _night_ was a surefire way to be attacked, hunted and targeted.

When he got home, his house had been a mess. It was obvious that his mother had rushed through the place, packing necessities, and then leaving. He could see touches of Aizawa-sensei working through the house with his mother, and his hands shook.

When he went to his room, it was to find that his mother had taken his yellow backpack, she'd obviously packed for him too, wherever she went, but there were still things left behind.

Izuku was quick to pack himself a survival kit in a spare backpack, classes on packing, and survival coming to the forefront of his mind as he did it.

After that, he'd gone to the Bakugou house, finding the same marks of hurried packing, and touches of Aizawa-sensei, and then his mother in the mess.

It was a relief that his teacher had gotten his mom and auntie and uncle out of..._whatever_ was happening.

He was certain that they would head for UA, that Aizawa-sensei would take them back to those fortified walls, if he could.

He tried very hard not to think about what might have happened on the way, how they would have struggled to go _anywhere_ in the mass panic and traffic jams, as people tried to flee. He tried not to think about how many people he had seen die, just in these few days headed back to his house.

He tried not to think about what he would do if he was wrong.

Instead he set his eyes on UA, tucked his ID in close to his chest, and _prayed_.

**LINEBREAK**

With no mode of transport besides his feet, nor any way to drive back to school with the traffic jams, and a lack of car, he had to walk.

It was...quite a distance, when one took the _zombies_ between him and UA into account.

He'd never imagined being alone, in a situation like this. Never even thought about _being_ in a situation like this.

It got harder and harder to hope his mother, the Bakugous, and Aizawa-sensei made it back to UA untouched, the more he was submerged in the results of this insanity.

He found Aizawa-sensei's car by accident.

His heart and dropped to his toes, his and frozen in his chest, when he spotted it. All he could think about was the horror scenes he'd seen, of people torn apart and still inside their cars.

Of bones _snapped_ like twigs, ripped through skin, chests and stomachs ripped apart to show the softer insides, which had been devoured.

All he could think- could _pray_\- was that there was no one he knew inside. That they'd gotten out in time. He could see the large traffic jam that had forced them to flee the car, but his hands still shook as he reached for the doors, braced to jump backwards, if any of the dead were inside.

He'd nearly collapsed, when he ripped the door open, and found the entire car empty of bodies.

His breath caught when he spotted his phone in the cup holder. He'd left it at home by mistake, when he'd left for the store, and he'd never thought he'd see it again.

His hands shook when he picked it up. The screen was black, and when he tried to power it on, it stayed black.

Dead battery.

Izuku cursed, but tucked the phone into his pocket.

Hasume had fiddled with it, and if he could get to a charger, and power it up, the signal linked into her 'special network' and wouldn't be dependent on the regular signal towers. He'd be able to call Aizawa-sensei, or his mother, or his friends.

There was no charger in the car though. He'd have to search.

**LINEBREAK**

Days later- it'd been a week since the world went to hell, and people were _crazy_\- Izuku finally found a charger, taken from a home, and plugged into one of the city's public charging locations.

They hadn't died yet, running on a backup generator of some kind, and though it _itched_ to be out in such an open way, it would help, and that was all Izuku needed right now.

He'd just learned that those with mutation quirks still _had them_ when they were made zombies.

He'd nearly died, and all he wanted right then was to talk to his mom.

So he crouched low, kept as out of sight as he could, and silent as possible, without compromising his own line of sight, and plugged the phone it. He nearly cried when the phone lit up as power was fed into it.

He had two hours before it would be fully charged, but he couldn't stay in one place for that long. If the zombies didn't find him, regular old humans could. It had only been a week, but it was like people had lost all sense of decency in large numbers. There were exceptions, but it was _dangerous._

Still the tempting siren's call of hearing his mother was too much.

So he stayed low, and scanned the area for threats.

**LINEBREAK**

His phone was at 15% when he unplugged it, and shoved it into his pocket, before he charged up One for All and darted away.

There was a horde working its way too close, and he didn't want to be on the ground when they realized he was there.

It was quick work to bounce his way to the roofs, and out of sight, before he kept going. He kept moving until the sounds of the dead faded, and then pulled out his phone.

His hands shook when he pulled up his contacts.

Mom's phone hadn't been on Hatsume's network the last time he checked, and he wasn't sure she'd have had a moment to fix it yet. Not with what happened, and what UA would had turned her to work on if they were smart.

Most of the other students had been at the dorms still, and when something this widespread and quick acting had attacked the city, they'd have locked the school down.

It was self sufficient, and would be able to support itself, and anyone on the grounds when the school locked down would be safe.

His hands still shook when he pulled his contacts up.

He _wanted_ to call his mother, or Aizawa-sensei, but noise would attract the creatures, and he didn't want to give them away if they were still out in dangerous city.

He called Kacchan instead.

The phone barely rang once before a frantic Katsuki answered with a half screamed "IZUKU?"

Izuku nearly burst into tears right there.

"K-Kacchan." his voice shook, but he was so _happy_ to hear a familiar voice.

"Oh my _god, __**Izuku**_. Are you _okay? Holy shit-"_

Izuku took a shaky breath before he interrupted, though he kept his voice low, so it wouldn't carry. "Kacchan!"

The blonde fell silent, and Izuku asked after a terrified moment "Is- did my mom, Sensei, and your parents make it back?"

Katsuki let out a shaking breath "Yeah- yeah, Aizawa-sensei got them back here- he went back out for _you_."

Izuku's legs nearly folded under him he was so relieved, and he staggered his next landing, as he hopped from roof to roof.

"The others?"

Katsuki's voice was mostly even, though the lack of curses showed how shook he was, as he answered "They're okay. You were the only person not inside the dorms or on campus when UA went into lock-down. The teachers are working on gathering everyone's parents or families, if they can find them, but it's slow going. Ours are only here already because Aizawa-sensei was with them at the start. He hotwired cars to get them here, when the traffic jams made him leave UA's car behind."

Izuku breathed easier, a whispered "I'm glad" escaping.

"Izuku- where are you?"

Izuku took another running leap off the roof, and landed with a hard grunt and roll on the next roof. He stilled on his feet, breathing softly, listening, before he answered his friend, softly giving his location, and then going still when he heard a harsh groan, and the strange shuffle most of the zombies seemed to carry.

He pulled in a sharp breath when the door leading to the stairs of the building he'd been running across was suddenly shoved over, the weight from the other side too much.

Zombies poured out the door, loud grunts and groans escaping them, getting louder and more frenzied as they realized Izuku- _food-_ was on the roof.

Izuku eyed the next jump, but they'd spotted him now, and these creatures would _hunt him_ if he didn't find a way to take them down now.

"IZUKU?"

Katsuki's voice was frantic, as he no doubt heard the sounds over the phone.

Izuku's voice somehow didn't shake as he brought the phone to his lips "Don't call me back Kacchan- they track sound. Tell mom I love her, and I'll see her soon, okay? I'm headed for UA. I'll call you back."

He hung up quickly after that, and then braced himself for a fight. He needed to stop them here and now, quickly and with as little noise as possible, or he'd be hunted across the city by a horde.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku holed himself up, in an abandoned apartment, the fire escape pulled up so that nothing could climb it, and used some gathered planks of wood, from a construction site further down the road, to board up the windows, and most of the sliding door that lead to the fire escape.

He hissed under his breath at all the extra work, ignoring the throbbing of his limbs, or the sharp sting of the gash stretching over his face, from the corner of his eyebrow, missing his eye, and trailing down to his chin. He'd already used some of his spare gause to tape it up and tend what he could.

Thankfully it hadn't been from a zombie, just a rough tumble across the roof during his earlier fight.

His hands trembled, and he pulled his phone back out.

He dialed Kacchan's number again, and smiled when it was answered with a "THANK FUCK" at full volume.

"Hey Kacchan." in contrast to the loudness of the blonde, Izuku's voice was a soft whisper, tight with pain, but genuine in his joy to hear his friend's voice.

"You little _shit_ you scared the _hell_ out of me. Aizawa-sensei called a bit after you hung up, he's headed your way- or where you told me you were last."

Izuku blew out a breath of relief, then hissed quietly as it pulled at his soon-to-be scar.

"Izuku?" Kacchan's voice was tightly controlled, but Izuku could still hear the terror.

"I'm not bit Kacchan. I just hit my head earlier when I was fighting, and pulled at a cut."

There's a sharp sight of relief, and a hissed "Fucking _Nerd_."

Izuku smiled. "Is mom there?"

Katsuki went silent, before he made an affirmative noise "I was gonna let you talk earlier, but you hung up- hold on."

There was a shuffling sound and then low voices, too low, Kacchan must have muffled the speaker, before a shaking, familiar voice calls "Izuku?"

Izuku clenches his eyes shut against tears, but his voice still sounds stuffed and near tears anyway when he answers "Hey Mom."

"Oh, _baby! Are you Okay?!"_

Izuku smiled "I'm so glad you're okay, mom. I'm okay. I'm gonna come to you, I promise."

Izuku can hear her crying, and it triggers his own cry-response, much more under control in his third year than it had been in his first.

"Oh _Izuku."_

"I love you, Mom. You're taking care of the others right?"

Inko's voice shakes, but Izuku can hear the smile when she answers "Yes, the others are worried for you too. You scared all of us when you hung up so quickly with Katsuki-kun, though we didn't know you had called at all until Katsuki-kun came running to tell us. How did you get your phone baby? I left it by accident when we had to leave the car in a rush."

Izuku smiled at the wall again, basking in his Mom's voice, as he answered "I found the car while I was trying to get to UA. I checked it, but all I found was my phone."

He ignored the shot of old fear, remembering what he had thought he might find inside the car.

"It was dead, but i found a place to charge it a little. I don't have much battery left right now."

Izuku frowned at the wall, knowing he should hang up and save what battery he had, until he could charge it again, and not wanting to do it, and give up the sound of familiar voices.

"Oh." from the sound of his mother's voice she had reached the same conclusion, and was just as reluctant as him. His frown deepened, and then he sighed. "Just in case Sensei calls back-" he gave his mother the address he had stopped in, and then told her and Kacchan goodnight and 'see you later'.

_(Not goodbye, this __**wasn't**__ goodbye, he wouldn't let it be.)_

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku cursed, listening to the sound that had woken him up. Zombies were working their way down the apartment hall, and they'd turned towards his room. The sound of them hitting the door was what had woken him- he hadn't meant to fall asleep, but he was exhausted.

He backed towards the fire escape, eyeing the rest of the apartment, and trying to figure out where he was going to go now.

If he could get away before they spotted him, he might have a chance of escaping without being hunted. If they saw him, he'd have to fight again.

Izuku turned, cursing as he ran for the balcony that he'd mostly boarded up, that led to the fire escape. He slid through the small opening, and using a bit of One for All, lunged for the ladder leading up to the next floor via fire escape.

He flinched when he accidentally broke the fire escape under the force of his lunge, catching the ladder as the base of the fire escape he'd been standing on before collapsed with a loud crashing sound.

He didn't pause to see the result of that, scrambling to continue to the roof, and get out of sight of anyone or thing that had heard the racket.

Once he'd made it to the roof, he was forced to fight a few stray zombies already stumbling towards the sounds he had made on the way up, before he could still again.

He could see UA from here, still so far away, but towering over the other buildings, even behind the dark reinforced walls he could see blocking access to the unauthorized.

He glanced around, before he started working his way towards it again, eyes open for anything.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku cursed sharply and creatively, as his next lunge for a rooftop missed. He caught the edge with his fingers, and his arm shook under his weight.

He was so tired.

And hungry.

It had been too long since he'd actually slept and not cat napped lightly in whatever place he felt would be undisturbed for a while, or give him enough notice to escape. It had been too long since he was full too.

His quirk crackled weakly over his skin, hunger and exhaustion making it hard to summon, as he tried to pull himself up. He was _so close-_

A familiar scarf wrapped around his arm, and then a disheveled but familiar face leaned over the edge of the building.

Izuku nearly went limp at the rush of relief.

"Aizawa-sensei!"

His teacher's eyes softened, as he reached down and hauled him up with a gruff "Problem child. You are never leaving my sight again."

Izuku curled into the hug his teacher pulled him into, and clung just as tightly "Okay." he agreed, shaking as he finally felt _safe_ for the first time since the whole mess had started.

His phone had died again two days ago, so he hadn't been able to update the others where he was, but he was _so close_ to UA now, and it seemed Aizawa-sensei had found him just in time anyway.

"Here problem child. Eat this."

Aizawa shoved a granola bar into his hands, and Izuku ripped it open, barely taking the time to eat it slowly enough to not get sick, and then sipped gratefully at the water bottle his teacher handed him.

He curled into the safety of his teacher for another moment, before he hauled himself to his feet, staggering a little. Aizawa steadied him, and Izuku breathed a 'thank you' before he asked, "Shall we keep going?"

Aizawa shook his head, tugging him back to the rooftop, and settling next to him, before he spoke, firm and sure "You take a nap. We'll go once you've had some sleep Problem Child."

Izuku didn't bother to argue with him. UA would still be there when he woke up, and with as little sleep as he had in the last...since this started, he'd definitely take the extra hours.

Izuku curled between the wall and his Sensei, pressing their backs together and leaving his teacher free to attack or defend them before he leaned his head back, against the older man's shoulder and let himself sleep.

They'd get to UA when he woke up.


	8. Stab Wound

Izuku was..._tired_.

So tired- of a lot of things.

He'd wanted to be a hero for so long...he hadn't thought it would be like _this_. Perhaps that was why…

Things had...changed, after that long ago meeting with All Might, after the hero had saved him, and told him he could never be a hero.

Not like him- not like the pros that Izuku had so admired.

And...well, it had taken time, and a lot of self-reflection, but Izuku had come to the conclusion that All Might was _right_, he could never be a hero like him.

So he...did things a little differently. He got into UA through general studies, and he graduated. He opened his own bakery, and he...possibly, a little bit...helped those who would be _technically_ considered 'villains' by law.

But Izuku had lived the law, lived with being quirkless, seen the world work to crush him and fought the rising tides. He'd seen pros and police fail, seen criminals escape...and just-

Izuku had a very specific set of mental guidelines for those he offered his bakery to, for those that he went out of his way to help hide, or heal. But for those in the know, those who could find the proper connections, and be guided to _Green Fields Bakery_, or who Izuku found on his own, Izuku operated a well connected and protected safehouse.

He'd offer desperate people a job, a chance to get back on their feet. He'd talk would-be-villains around, or shift those who would not stop into vigilantes. He'd handle those villains who heroes ignored, or who the police _couldn't_.

He was, for all his quirkless status, a _very_ well connected person.

But the thing about operating a safehouse?

Odd Hours.

Not that it was a problem with his _other_ job, but...well.

Izuku _did not_ appreciate being woken up at three in the morning, on one of his rare days off.

**LINEBREAK**

"Eraser what _the fuck_ did you do!" Izuku's voice was sharp and angry, but his hands were steady, and gentle as he helped the vigilante into his bakery and then into the backroom, where all the supplies were kept. He didn't pull the knife he could see sticking out of the man's back out, and was as smooth and gentle as he could manage when he carefully lowered the other down to help him.

The man hissed, pulling the black face mask off of his face, and pushing the motorcycle goggles- black, with gold tinted glass- up towards his forehead "They were aiming for my _kids_, Deku, I couldn't let them _die_."

Izuku scowled, even as he began to work on taking care of his friend. Aizawa- Eraser, to the underworld- was one of the oldest of his 'strays'. Deku had helped him long before his bakery had started doubling as a safehouse. In fact- it had _become_ a safehouse _because_ of Aizawa, really.

But Aizawa had been one of the first vigilantes he had offered a hand to. It had taken a long while- and letting Aizawa stalk him a little, before the younger man had trusted that Deku _wasn't_ going to turn on him or turn him in.

Eventually, slowly, Aizawa- then Eraser- had learned to trust him, started coming to him for help. Eventually, he started pulling the mask down, and then pushing his goggles up, and then pulling his hair out of the tight knot.

Eventually he stated _coming_ to Deku for help, instead of Deku going to look for him, to make sure the man hadn't died.

Eventually...he had given Deku his name, and had brought 'his kids' to the bakery, introducing them to each other.

Aizawa had apparently picked up various kids off the streets, in bad situations, or in states of needing help. He'd taken them in, taught them to survive, and helped them where he could. Then he brought them to his bakery, in twos or threes, and introduced them, taught the kids that his bakery was a _safe place_ for them to go, if he wasn't available.

And Deku damn well _couldn't_ turn the kids away.

So it had grown.

_Green Fields Bakery_ became known as a safe space, and Deku became known as someone who would _help_ those that asked.

"Who targeted the kids?" Deku's voice was dark, but soft, like a velvet caress, a knife edge kissing a throat, anger tightly controlled.

"You remember the Human Traffickers that I told you about and that Null is working on?"

Izuku's face blanked out, as he put the pieces together, and he was so furious he sounded calm when he asked "Did they try to take the kids?"

Aizawa's face twisted in anger when he nodded "They went after Bakugou and Kirishima. I handled them, and got the kids back home, before coming to you."

Izuku growled lowly, even as his hands remained steady and gentle "I see."

His eyes narrowed at the wound on Aizawa, and as he finished cleaning it up, and stitching what was needed, he began to plot.

"Would you and the kids watch Green Fields for me? I'm going to talk to Null, and _deal_ with this."

Aizawa stilled at the sound of his voice.

Shinsou called it the "Murder Voice", the one he used when he was so angry, he was about to put all the connections he had built in the underground as a known neutral safehouse, to use.

The man glanced at him, and nodded once after a minute "Yeah- I'll watch your bakery."

"_Good."_

Izuku stood, ushering Aizawa towards his car- rarely used, but present. "Let's go pick up your kids, you can stay at my place, so I can watch your stitches, and you can look after my bakery in the morning. And I know your boys will be panicking about you anyway."

Aizawa didn't bother to fight, knowing better by this point than to argue when Izuku got that particular tone in his voice.


	9. Shackled

**This one talks of drowning and being stuck in a situation leading to that, so just heads up! (my actually worst way to die fear, so here we ARE-)**

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku groaned, rolling away from the feeling of cold, and trying to reach for his blanket. He didn't want to get up-

Izuku jerked in place, eyes snapping open even as he shoved himself into a sitting position, memories suddenly jumping to the front of his mind.

He'd been walking back to the dorms, he'd been attacked, where-

His breath caught as he finally took in his surroundings.

He was inside what appeared to be a tall, wide plastic box, and shackled to the floor. The chain was long enough he could reach the sides of the box, but when he tried to summon One for All to bounce between the walls of it, he found himself unable.

They were too far apart for him to do the same without the boost in distance his quirk gave him.

He spent a good chunk of time trying to get out, trying to break the walls, or the chain, or find another way out, even without the use of his quirk.

He couldn't find any.

**LINEBREAK**

Aizawa paced, staring down the detective across the table from himself, Yagi, and the Problem Child's mother.

"Excuse me?" Aizawa's voice is dark, a nonverbal promise of impending violence, as he asks the detective to repeat himself.

Detective Tsukauchi holds his gaze, his eyes dark, and angry, as he repeats himself "Midoriya Izuku has been kidnapped by an unknown person or persons. We received this note, and video clip twenty minutes ago in regards to this, and we are not sure where he has been taken."

Aizawa looks at the note- made of cut out and pasted letters from newspapers and magazines- and it boils down to "We have Midoriya Izuku, and we're going to play a game".

The video clip is worse, showing Midoriya sprawled bonelessly in a clear container, shackled to the bottom. A voice- modified and unknown- explains that the box he is sitting inside will fill with water, that he doesn't have access to his quirk, and if they want to save him, they better solve the puzzles handed to them quickly.

There's a riddle at the end of the video.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku wasn't prone to panic so intense it rendered him unable to _do_ anything. He panicked plenty, he'd just gotten very good at working through it.

That...was not the case when he was standing in the box, unable to find a way out, and water began to fall inside from somewhere above his head.

It didn't take him long to realize it _wasn't stopping_.

And then he realized why the chain was so long, and what was going to happen, as the water level began to rise.

_He was going to drown._

_He was going to __**drown, just like he had with the Slime Vilain-**_

He _never wanted to do that again-_

Izuku is not ashamed to admit he had a panic attack. He's also not ashamed to say the only reason he came out of _that_ was practice at handling his own panic attacks previously, and a burning need to _do _something.

The water was coming steadily, and quickly, but not _too_ quickly. He was still able to stand and touch the bottom of the box, it hadn't reached his hips yet, and he had..._some_ time. Not- not much, but _some. _

He had to breathe through a spike in his panic, as the water lapped at his thighs.

He didn't want to drown.

_He did not want to drown._

**LINEBREAK**

Inko was not one prone bone deep, burning fury.

But _oh, what she would do to this asshole when she found him._

_(It would be simple to cause some _accidents _for him on the way to handling. And what a tragedy if he never makes it to his destination.)_

She didn't often have cause to show it, didn't often feel the need to show off, but her son had gotten his analytical skills from _her_. To track down the mother _fucker_ who thought threatening _her son_ was a good idea? She'd pull out all the stops, call in every favor owed to her, tear the city apart brick by brick.

There was nowhere he would be able to hide, and he'd best _pray_ that her son didn't actually _die_, because if he did…

The villain would long _wish_ for death and never get it, no matter _what_ the world would call her for it.

She narrowed her eyes at the riddle, almost certain of her answer, taking in the three clues one last time.

She breathed, low and deep, before she voiced her answer out loud.

The people working to break the riddle down paused, eye contact made quickly, and then a sharp frantic burst of movement.

Once the rest of the room agreed with her proposed answer, they forwarded it on the disposable phone they'd been provided, with a single number programmed in.

It took only a few moments before the next bust of information arrived, and was forwarded to the large screens taking up one of the walls in the room.

"Well done!" came the distorted voice of their villain "That was quicker than I expected! As a reward, I will show you that Midoriya Izuku is alive and well- for now."

A short- _terrifying-_ clip of her son is shown.

Inko can tell he's on the verge of a full blown meltdown panic attack, but he's trying to get out of the box the villain had placed him in. A box that is filling with _water_-

Inko inhales sharply.

Izuku is terrified of drowning.

Has been since the Sludge Incident.

He's not scared of water, he's scared of being in situations that will end with drowning that he can't get out of.

This is her son's greatest fear.

And this villain has turned it into- _called it-_ a **game.**

Around Inko, everything _shakes_.

**LINEBREAK**

It's fine- He's _fine,_ the water is only at his chest, he's _fine_, he's gonna be _fine he just has to get out, it's okay-_

Izuku wants to scream.

The cell is not made of plastic. Whatever it is made of is clear but durable and he can't break it. The chains are long enough he can reach all the sides of his box, wide and tall, but they give him no slack to try and use the chains to break the container. The place where the shackle is attached to the ground is solid and stands firm against every attempt to break it.

As the water level rises, his momentum is cut to almost nothing.

Izuku-

Izuku _can't get out._

His breath catches, a fist tightening over his lungs, even as he stands on the tips of his toes, looking straight up in an attempt to keep his head above water.

He can't get out.

He can't save himself.

The water is still pouring in from above him.

_Someone please-_

**LINEBREAK**

Aizawa hasn't been this close to a panic attack in a long time.

His student is staring straight up, right at the camera, as he struggles to keep his head above the water filling his prison. Aizawa can see the moment panicked fear begins to overwhelm Izuku. Can see his Problem Child try to fight it.

They're on their fifth riddle, a map spread wide across the wall marking out the sections that will outline a location for them to find Midoriya.

There's already Pro Heroes searching the area around where they've begun outlining, but with so little to work off of, it's not doing as well as it could be.

The video had only told them he was inside a box, the rest of the video around the box appearing to be nothing more than a generic warehouse.

The area they've begun to carve out is somewhere in the center of a warehouse district, and Izuku could be _anywhere_ inside it.

They don't even know of the lines they are being given are going to carve out a space to search, be an arrow pointing somewhere, spell out something ...it could be _anything_.

They don't have _time_-

Izuku begins treading water, as the water begins to be too high for him to stand and breathe.

He looks deathly pale, and his eyes are blown wide with adrenaline and terror.

Aizawa _never_ wants to see that again.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku finds out quickly that he can't float.

The shackle stops him from having that rest. When he tires, he has to stop swimming, and pull himself to the floor with his shackle so he can sit down, and then _hold his shackle chain_ bunched up in his lap to _stay_ there.

Eventually, he knows, he will hit a point where he _can't_ swim down and back up quickly enough. Eventually, he won't be able to swim above the water level at _all_.

Eventually he's going to _**DrOwN- **_

Izuku shoves the shackle chain out of his lap and kicks for the surface. He almost can't tell what tightness in his chest is from lack of air, and what's the panic attack.

He breaks the surface and breathes deeply, trying to control his breathing and get enough air into himself at the same time.

He doesn't think about the length of the chain. Doesn't think about how much longer he will be able to reach the surface, and how soon he _won't_.

He breathes.

**LINEBREAK**

Toshinori wants to cry, wants to transform- even though he _can't_ anymore, hasn't been able to for over a year now- and smash the entire city to find his boy.

The design they're making with the answers to the riddles isn't _helping_.

It's just...a long curving line, that slowly doubles back on itself, beginning to spiral, but not...tightly, or in a way that they could narrow down to the center of the spiral pattern.

They don't have _time_.

His boy was _trapped_, he was going to _drown_ they needed to be _faster-_

The water was _too high._

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku kept his eyes up, away from the shackle on his ankle. He didn't pay attention to the red that drifted through the water, from where the shackle had broken his skin in his struggles.

He didn't focus on the burn in his chest.

Instead he kept staring upwards, towards the sky, unable to escape the water, his chain finally having reached its limit.

The light coming through the water was strangely beautiful.

"_I'm sorry, Mom. I'm sorry All Might. Aizawa-sensei- guys- I'm so sorry."_

The thought is painful, and he wishes-

Well.

He wishes.

When he feels like his head is about to explode, when he feels like his chest is being ripped open, when he dizzy with lack of air, when he _can't_ stop the instinctive inhale, he knows it's almost over.

He reaches for the surface, struggling, even as his vision darkens at the edges.

As if from far away, he can hear what sounds like Present Mic's voice screaming.

And then the cement walls start to ripple and fold themselves out of the way.

Cementoss.

Izuku's vision goes dark, and his body limp only seconds after he registers these facts, and if he'd had the mental capacity, he'd hope it wasn't a hallucination brought on by the lack of air.

_(He won't discover until he wakes up in the hospital, that it had in fact, been an actual event,)_


	10. Unconscious

**This is not long enough but DID NOT want to be written, I've lost my notes for it THREE TIMES and I'm READY TO MOVE ON NOW so here have this. **

**LINEBREAK**

Katsuki knew what panic was. He'd had panic attacks, and talked himself down from them, had friends talk him down from them, he'd suffered them, and seen them in others. He knew exactly what panic looked like, what it felt like.

It still had _nothing_ on the panicked fear that dumped through his system the moment that Izuku's limp body hit the ground.

Katsuki's not even sure how he got up, considering he'd just taken a baseball bat to the face, and it had knocked him to the ground. He's almost certain he has a concussion, or at least is very close to it.

Izuku had thrown himself in between Katsuki and the villain that had cornered them on their run, and there was _blood_ all over the ground, and he _wasn't moving_. And for a split second, a single moment that had allowed the villain to take the swing at his head, he had thought Deku was _dead_.

He'd thought he'd just seen Deku _die_ for him, and he'd frozen, adrenaline, horror, and terror dumping into his system in a horrid cocktail the likes of which Katsuki hadn't been ready for.

The split second of stillness allowed the villain to take a swing, but Katsuki had been training for close to two years in _UA,_ the best hero course option this side of the globe, and dealing with the League's many attacks over their time with the school.

Katsuki might be dazed and dizzy, and verging on a concussion, but Deku was _down_, and the villain had turned away from him. Maybe he thought the baseball bat had knocked Katsuki out, maybe he thought he had a minute to turn his attention to Deku- Katsuki didn't care.

All he cared about was the villain had his back to him, and was aiming for Deku's vulnerable, limp form, and Katsuki _wasn't going to allow it._

He lunged forward, half desperate aim, and half staggering fall, both hands extended, and pure muscle memory guiding the force of his explosions.

He only stopped once the villain's body hit the ground, and he was sure the man wouldn't be getting up again for a while.

He staggered towards Deku, and fell to his knees beside him more than he knelt.

Once again, lessons drummed into his head guided his motions, as he checked for a pulse, heart in his throat, and hands shaking more than they probably should have, trying to check a pulse.

For a terrifying five seconds, Katsuki can't find a pulse.

And then he picks it up, fluttering and _so very precious_.

He scrambles for a phone, his vision blurring- the concussion? Tears? Katsuki wasn't sure- and dials emergency services first. He gives them the information they ask for, and as soon as he can, he hangs up, and speed dials Aizawa-sensei.

The phone only rings once.

"Bakugou? What happened?"

Katsuki pulls in a shaking breath at the sound of his teachers steady voice. It's a comfort, his phone pinned between his cheek and shoulder, something to latch onto while his head swims. He wants to press his fingers into Deku's pulse, and keep tracking it, but instead he applies pressure to the bleeding wound he found more by feel then by his blurring sight.

"A-Aizawa-sensei," Katsuku's voice breaks for a moment, as he stares at the red_red__**red**_ staining his hands. "Th-there was a- Deku and I- We were."

"Breathe Katsuki. Deep breathes, nice and even. In and out-"

Katsuki focused in on that voice, focused on the way Aizawa exaggerated his breathing, and gave him a template to follow over the phone. His teacher had helped him through many of his panic attacks at this point, and hearing him was a comfort all on it's own. The familiar verbal coaching through the steps of calming himself down helped even more.

"There was a villain, and Deku's _bleeding_, Aizawa-sensei."

There's a still half second of silence, and then a fiercely protective "_Where are you?"_

He gives his teacher the address. They're not to far from UA dorms after all, and Bakugou could _really_ use the presence of someone he considers _safe_.

"I'll be there in two minutes."

Bakugou doesn't bother to ask questions, just makes a relieved agreeing noise, as he tries to focus through the throbbing of his head.

**LINEBREAK**

Aizawa-sensei arrives before emergency services.

Bakugou could _cry_.

_(He's a stress-crier and he _knows _it and he is very, _**very** _stressed right now.)_

"Aizawa-sensei!"

His teacher slides to a stop right next to him, eyes scanning over the scene quickly and expertly.

"I've got you, Bakugou." his voice is calm, steady, and Katsuki latches onto it, swaying in place as the adrenaline dump calms down in the face of what Katsuki's brain considers '_safe'_.

"I've got a concussion." he informs the hero, feeling it's something he needs to know.

His teacher keeps talking to him even as the sound of sirens- _his head screams-_ get closer. All the while, his hands are moving, applying more advanced first aid then Bakugou's concussed thoughts had allowed.

Bakugou doesn't even think about it when he buries his head into Aizawa's shoulder once the emergency vehicles start arriving, and the flashing lights are _agony_.

All he wants to do is _sleep_, but Aizawa-sensei had asked him to stay awake.

And Aizawa-sensei was _important_, he had to do what he asked.

He tenses sharply when people start trying to _take Deku_ and move him, and separate them from Aizawa-sensei. That _wasn't allowed_. They weren't _safe_-

Bakugou is getting ready to use his quirk, lips pulled back and hands coming up, when Aizawa's voice cuts through his building panic.

"It's alright Katsuki. They're gonna load you both up and take us to UA. Recovery Girl is waiting for you both, it's okay."

And Katsuki may be dizzy and concussed, and ready to drop, but he trusts Aizawa-sensei with his life, so he calms down and goes willingly with the paramedic that had been trying to lead him away.


	11. Stitches

**Whumptober 11- Stitches. THIS ONE IS A CONTINUATION OF "STAB WOUND" (ch 8) I also stress wrote this so hard.**

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku was not one for petty anger. If he _were_, those who had made fun of him or hurt him for his quirkless state would have been…_much_ more sorry than he had made them to begin with. He was calm, with a long fuse, analytical mind, and knew how to hone and _use_ the anger that he did feel.

He'd done it for years.

He'd used it to become what he was.

_Yes_, he ran a bakery that doubled as a safehouse, and anyone that asked about him would connect his name to that place, would never imagine him to be anything or anyone else...but that was not the case. He was _more_ than just a bakery owner. More than just "Information Broker Dekiru".

He had the kind of connections in the Underworld that would make most of the hero population _quake_ and probably call him a villain. He rarely ever used them, but all the people he helped liked to offer him repayment in the ways they could.

In most cases that was in favors or information, seeing as they had no money. It was how 'Dekiru' ended up getting started. Izuku never turned them down, knowing it could one day help save a life, and would disrespect the pride and morals of those that he had helped.

Everyone _knew_ that Dekiru was honest as he could be, was 'clean' in that he would keep his word if you kept yours, had a set of iron morals that wouldn't bend for anyone, and that he double and triple checked information he handed out. They knew he would work for both sides, but wouldn't sell identities or information on his contacts.

He was _trusted_, as much as anyone in the Underworld could be. So when he put out a call, and started _using_, the favors he had collected most of the Underworld that tracked him sat up and started paying attention.

He'd been working for months to track and remove the Human Traffickers, not wanting them anywhere near where he operated, but he hadn't pulled on his connections for it, having been making progress on his own. They were rather furious with how some of their larger operations had been stopped due to his information allowing for action to be taken.

But now they'd gone after people that Izuku considered _his_, people he cared about, and that progress he had been making was now _not fast enough._

As soon as he'd settled Aizawa and his kids in his living area, fed them and double checked the stab wound Aizawa had let him treat, he whirled out and towards the backroom of his Bakery.

He pulled out a disposable phone, and sent a text to the only number on it.

'_Human Traffickers in my area. Where? Cleaning House'_

Quick, to the point, and unmistakable.

A moment of silence, as Izuku waited and then a reply.

'_Give me five minutes.'_

He smirked, dark and intent, as he waited. He loathed people like these. He'd only kept his connections out of his attempts to track for the police to keep the underworld from stirring and pulling attention to them.

Now, well, now they'd gone after his family.

All bets were _off._

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku could be unsettlingly terrifying.

The Underworld knew this. He'd made it _very clear_ the first time someone tried to attack his bakery because someone they held a grudge against had retreated to Izuku for medical aid.

They knew he was perfectly capable of tearing entire syndicates apart, of dragging their names through the mud, making it so they couldn't find help even in the Underworld.

People learned very quickly not to mess with Izuku's turf, not to touch those he considered his, and not to break his rules. He might not get you immediately, but he _would_ get you.

It took a few incidents for this fact to stick, but it eventually did.

So when the underground saw Izuku- done up in his 'Dekiru' outfit, black slacks and loafers, emerald dress shirt, black suspenders, a black face mask, and a domino mask colored an emerald green so dark it looked black- storming around and asking questions they _answered._

Not just because they were- in most cases- loyal to him in some way, but due to the very obvious _anger_ in his body posture. Denying Dekiru information in that state when you _had_ it was a surefire way to get on his shit list.

_No one_ wanted to be on Dekiru's shit list.

He had the information he wanted within two hours, and the underworld scrambled in his wake. The Traffickers were new, it was why they had bothered to try setting up shop in Dekiru's area to begin with, against all advice to the contrary.

He'd soon teach them why every _smart_ villain in the area(s) of attempted operation refused to work, or interact with, or even sell supplies to them. Why some had warned them of colossal mistakes and regret.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku hummed, watching flames flicker through the air, an old warehouse district on fire.

He was content, no longer in Dekiru's outfit, but in his 'work' uniform. He'd sent word out, and cleared those who had done nothing wrong out of the area, had failsafes in place to prevent the uncontrolled spread of the fire, but everything the Traffickers had held here in this base was now ash or becoming so.

He'd handed as many as he could over to the police- Naomasa was a wonderful contact to have- and was not ensuring no one else escaped.

When it was over, Izuku smelled of ash and smoke, but they were clear of the area.

He returned to his bakery, crawling through the back window, and headed straight for the showers.

He had a few superficial cuts, and bruises, but otherwise, he was fine, if very tired. The bakery would open officially to the public in two hours, though he could smell that Aizawa and his boys were in the kitchen at the moment, making _something_.

If Aizawa pulled his stitches, Izuku was going to _scream_.


	12. Don't Move! (ch4 continuation)

Aizawa didn't like _not_ knowing things.

It came with the territory of being an Underground Hero of course, where a lack of information generally resulted in preventable deaths, of friends or of himself, if he wasn't careful. But he especially hated not knowing what was happening with his kids.

He'd seen them at their best and worst, and living in the dorms with them, he'd learned to read them pretty well. He'd learned what to expect.

And then something happened.

Something he couldn't pinpoint, as all the cameras in the building had failed during the period that this mysterious event had taken place, and he hadn't been present for it.

More than that, none of the involved parties were sharing.

All he really knew was that _something_ had happened during that time that had ended with Midoriya, Shinsou, and Bakugou closer than they had been before whatever it was. If that had been the only thing, Aizawa could have left it alone, despite his curiosity.

But it wasn't.

He noticed how jumpy, and alert Midoriya and Shinsou had always been. Of course he had. How they were superstitious, and alert to the strangest things. How they responded so much quicker than their classmates. The kind of quickness that came from experience and need.

But now Bakugou was responding to the same things, the same invisible stimulus that Aizawa _couldn't find._

He'd looked into the other boys' reactions, made sure there wasn't anything going on at home, and from what he could tell Midoriya was loved and safe at home. Shinsou was different, having bounced from home to home- Aizawa was looking into finding a forever home for him, possibly adopting him himself- but was safe for now, in the dorms.

So he couldn't find what was causing his students to react and act like someone being _hunted_, and he hated it.

And whatever it was, had now affected another student.

He'd _missed_ something. Something that had hurt his kids.

He didn't like it.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku was both glad, and mourning, that Kacchan could See again.

He'd missed having him around for the fights of course, missed being able to really _talk_ about the things he saw and dealt with, but...it wasn't…

He wouldn't wish awareness on anyone, if he could keep them safe from the things that would hurt them. If he could have spared Kacchan the Sight, and kept him away from supernatural harm, he would have.

He'd do the same for Hicchan, if he could. Even Toshi-sensei.

At the same time, he was so very thankful that he didn't have to deal with the dangers in the dark alone.

It was selfish.

But it didn't change how he felt.

Still, watching Kacchan, hands shaking, trace over the wounds he hadn't been able to see before the Muffle Effect faded, tears and an apology in his eyes, he _wished_ he could spare his friend this.

"God Izu…" Fingertips brushed a scar curling over his chest, deep and red, like it was fresh despite the years he had carried it. It was hot to the touch, like fire was stored under the skin.

Izuku smiled, soft and warm. "It's okay, Kacchan. You didn't remember, you couldn't See anymore, you didn't know. It was safer."

"You could have fucking died. I _should_ have known. You tried to tell me."

Izuku huffed softly "I told you monsters were real Kacchan. In a world where almost every adult said I was a liar, where your parents, and my mom agreed that it was just bad dreams. It's okay."

Kacchan growled scanning the scars he had asked to see. "It's really fucking not."

Izuku huffed again, harder this time "Well you're here now. And Hicchan is too. You both know. And All Might knows too."

Katsuki's eyes flashed "Don't go hunting without back up again, shitty nerd."

Izuku laughed, agreeing easily "Okay, Kacchan."

**LINEBREAK**

There was something going on.

Aizawa knew there was, but _something_ was preventing him from seeing it.

Something was interfering with keeping his kids safe. Aizawa was beginning to suspect that there was a quirk involved, but without more information he couldn't stop whatever the quirk _was_. And the fact none of the kids were talking made it worse. He wondered if they _could_ talk about it, or if it was another effect of the quirk he suspected was in use.

The idea made him angry, an instinctive flicker of Erasure causing his eyes to flash red, and his hair to rise.

He took a deep breath.

He'd have to get creative, if that were the case, and when he found out who or what had done this to his students…

His eyes _burned_.

They'd _regret_ it.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku panted for breath, pressed back to back with Hicchan and Kacchan.

They were in the forest on UA grounds, supposedly for training, but-

There were spirits, angry and verging into poltergeist territory, that had moved into the woods. Letting them stay there was a surefire way to let them attach themselves to the energy of the forest, and with the blood spilt in the training ground…

Izuku _couldn't_ let them stay in the woods, or their influence would only grow, until it attracted something _much worse_.

"Kacchan!"

"I've got it Zuku! Duck!"

Izuku dropped down, opening his side of their protective triangle, and he felt the rush of air as Katsuki threw something over his head.

The trees rattled hard enough that Izuku thought they might break for a moment, an echoing, furious shriek sounding through the trees, that cut suddenly without warning, at the same moment the trees stopped their rattling.

The air was eerily silent, in the moments after that, and they all slowly straightened, peering around the area.

"Did...did you get it? Are we okay?" Hitoshi's voice was hesitant but steady as he asked the question, refusing to take his eyes off the area of trees he was watching to check. They'd all learned their lesson about believing moments like this immediately, after Hitoshi was yanked off his feet and flung through two trees before Katsuki had caught up and gotten the spirit to let go.

Izuku breathed, and then began to chant in a loud, carrying voice, calling on the spirits of the forest, nature spirits that belonged, and would have been corrupted if the poltergeists had been allowed to grow and take root in these trees. He called on them to sweep through the forest, to push out those who were unwanted, to let him know if the forest was safe. He offered his energy for the task, and he knew the chant had worked when he felt his stores dip, his aching body protesting louder.

He held himself steady, letting the spirits of the forest borrow his energy to force out anyone who didn't belong, now that the three of them had weakened the almost-poltergeist enough that they could.

He'd have to see about setting up a ritual that would use the blood spilled in training, and the energy expelled in sparring and quirk practice to strengthen the forest spirits, and ensure they could fight off any invaders on their own.

When the spirits sent back a positive 'all clear' signal, he released his hold on the chant, and swayed as the fatigue sat heavily on his chest. "We're safe."

Katsuki and Hitoshi, who had braced against his back, when he swayed, offering support, whirled around, and hauled an arm over either of their shoulders.

"You idiot! We were right there, you didn't have to support the forest by yourself!" Hitoshi's voice was sharp, and Izuku murmured an apology even as he leaned into both of them.

On his other side, Katsuki hissed curses. About his stupidity, poltergeists, and forest spirits, alongside threats to Izuku's continued health if he kept being a 'dumbass nerd'. His hands were gentle, and his support firm, despite that, and Izuku couldn't help the way he grinned tiredly even as they staggered towards the dorms.

**LINEBREAK**

Aizawa was getting progressively worried. His three problem children were getting into fights out of sight more and more often. They'd drag each other back, injured or not, and insist it was training, or nothing to worry about, but Aizawa wasn't a fool.

Some of the marks on their persons were too large to have been from one another. Any cameras in the area they were in during these incidents glitched out, and there were never any witnesses.

It came to a point that Aizawa resorted to using his hard earned skill as the Underground's number one to follow them and see if he could figure out what the problem was.

He was now convinced that there were _multiple_ quirks involved, because he often found himself forced away from his students before any incidents came about, his mind forced to turn away to other things, no matter that he _wanted_ to see what was going on.

Today, today, he wasn't going to let that happen.

He _refused._

He wouldn't leave his kids in danger where he could help it- he didn't care if they technically had provisional licenses, and were legally allowed to handle situations on their own. It was no excuse, as a pro hero, and their teacher, as someone who cared for their wellbeing, to _let_ them.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku cursed, running and scanning the area. Shadow beings were the fucking _worst._ They liked to jump from shadow to shadow, and were even known to hide in a person's shadow. If it was dark enough, they were capable of a kind of 'puppetry' with a person's shadow. It wasn't complete, but it was a struggle to fight in darker areas where the creatures were stronger.

Katsuki and Hitoshi had circled the block, trying to herd the group they'd discovered completely by accident. Aizawa-sensei was going to _kill_ them. They kept getting into situations, and while they'd managed to space out some of the incidents, Izuku knew he was getting antsy about them.

He was going to do _something_ soon, and Izuku wasn't sure he knew what he'd be getting himself into, if he kept fighting the Muffle Effect. Soon, he'd be able to See. And once you could truly see, and be aware of what you had seen, when you weren't a child, the ability never went away.

He'd be trapped seeing all the things in the dark for the rest of his life.

At the same time, Izuku didn't think they'd be _able_ to stop Aizawa-sensei from looking into what they kept getting caught up in.

He just didn't think it would be so soon.

Izuku spat another curse as he launched himself at a civilian about to be caught in the mess, spotting the flicker of shadow that didn't belong.

He called a quick bullshit excuse about a shadow quirked villain, and being a responding hero, when he rushed to pick up the civilian and set her elsewhere with a smile he hoped didn't look as strained as he felt.

He rushed away from her at the quickest opportunity, spotting the shadow flickers as they traveled down the street. He hoped Shinsou and Katsuki were having better luck.

**LINEBREAK**

Hitoshi shook his head hard, as he pushed himself up from the harsh collision with the dumpster behind him. Shadow creatures weren't fun. They weren't the worst thing, but they still weren't fun.

They were hard to spot, if they were any kind of experienced, and the older they were the more power they had in the dark. Tokoyami's quirk actually reminded Hitoshi of these things, and he's been startled the first time he'd really seen Dark Shadow in action.

Dark Shadow could talk though, and he wasn't quite the same, though he was close. Hitoshi got himself together, and ran after the creature that had thrown him. He had a flashlight that had been modified to use UV lights, and he needed to catch the creature in its light entirely, burn it out of existence, or it would just keep regenerating in the dark. They were hoping to lure the entire group of creatures- or most of them- into a store parking lot, where Izuku had replaced the bulbs in the street lamps with UV lighting, and then shut them down with the breaker. The parking lot was empty, and dark as pitch, but once they hit the breaker, it would light up, and hopefully put an end to this.

Now if only Aizawa-sensei would stop trying to follow them. He didn't know what he was getting into, once he finally managed to See, and by then it would be too late. Izuku was right- Hitoshi wouldn't wish the Sight on anyone. Ignorance really _was_ bliss.

Hitoshi breathed and then ran after the creature that had managed to throw him, ignoring how his head throbbed. He wished his quirk worked on creatures. It would save a hell of a lot of trouble, but their minds were just...not advanced enough or too different from a base human's to let his quirk take.

_(That had been a really painfully learned lesson that Hitoshi didn't want to repeat.)_

"Mother fucker." He jumped towards the buildings, noticing the creature was using shadows to flicker down the street faster than Hitoshi could run. If he got high enough, he'd be able to see where it went. It took only a few seconds to get to the roof, and start running, eyes finding the misplaced shadows in the dark with long years of practice.

**LINEBREAK**

Izuku sprawled beside Hitoshi, Katsuki having let them lead the horde of creatures onto the parking lot, while he pulled the switch. The lights were bright enough they all ended up squinting, and Izuku could hear the dying shrieks of the creatures mixing with the enraged few that had avoided the lights. They'd need to handle those, but Izuku took a moment to breathe.

"Problem children!"

Izuku jerked up into a sitting position at the same time that Hitoshi did, Katsuki touching down beside them as they both looked out of the parking lot and towards their teacher, who looked angry where he stood.

That didn't matter though, and all three of their faces drained of color as they noticed something.

Aizawa wasn't in the safety of the lights.

He stood outside them, in the shadows, where they could see the furious creatures writhing as they stared into the lights at the three boys. For now the creatures were more furious with the three that had killed the rest of their pack, then they were with the human standing in their domain, but if Aizawa kept talking to them...that would change.

"Aizawa-sensei! Get in the light!" Izuku's voice was loud, strong, and worried as he shouted the command.

He watched Aizawa pause, not used to Izuku yelling at all, especially towards or at a teacher, and Izuku cused.

"Teach!" Katsuki was next, yelling "Move your ass! Get in the light!"

Aizawa obeyed, moving into the lights quickly, as he realized his students were being entirely serious, and worried. When he scanned the dark for what had caused it, what they were watching, he couldn't see anything. He thought he caught shadows moving, but dismissed it when there was nothing there.

Hitoshi, Katsuki, and Izuku all moved to circle their teacher automatically, even as they continued to watch the darkness. Aizawa paused, setting aside his desire to lecture them, as he reacted to their actions, falling into a ready stance, and scanning their surroundings for threats.

"Aizawa-sensei-" Hitoshi's voice got cut off, as they all whipped their heads around at the sound of shattering glass. All at once, part of the parking lot they stood in went dark.

Aizawa startled as all three of his students spoke at the same time, a heartfelt, worried "Shit." coming from three different directions at once.

"Aizawa-sensei! Don't move! You have to stay in the lights, understand? Stay in the light, and don't step outside it!" Izuku didn't give his teacher a chance to respond yelling "Katsuki!"

"I've got it! Eyebags, got your lights?"

"Yeah, I've got them! Go! I'll cover you."


	13. Adrenaline

**This is short, but I've been having a VERY shitty time, and this is me going 'hey still breathing'. Hope you all enjoy anyway.**

**LINEBREAK**

There's a single moment, before adrenaline dumps into your system.

A single moment before your heartbeat kicks into overdrive, and flight or fight kicks in. A moment before thousands of years of instinct and evolution goes into effect.

Todoroki Touya knew adrenaline intimately. He'd known it since he was little, since he'd stood between his siblings, and his father. Since he staged his 'death' and ran. Since he'd stepped into life without a steady roof and food, where he lived on the street and everything depended on his mind.

He'd sworn to himself that he wouldn't let himself get so attached to anyone ever again. Leaving Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Shouto behind...he couldn't make a choice like that again. His best option was to be a loner.

He hadn't counted on Midoriya Izuku. The younger boy was a force to be reckoned with, determined and stubborn enough for five grown men. He reminded Dabi of his siblings. And maybe it was the reminder, maybe it was just the suppressed big brother instinct, maybe it was the protector he's always been, before…

Whatever it was, he couldn't ignore the kid, with his nose in places it didn't belong, who bit more off then he could chew. He had fire in his eyes and a stubborn streak a mile wide.

Dabi broke his own rule- he stepped in. He stepped in, and he saved the kid from his own stupidity, stepped in and made sure he got out of it.

Then he tried to leave, to separate himself from the boy, after making sure he wouldn't bleed out. He justified it as 'not wasting my time by saving you and then letting you bleed out and die' but really...he reminded him of his siblings.

His mistake was thinking that Midoriya Izuku would let him walk away.

Which was how he got attached. Because Izuku was a stubborn, focused, driven and charismatic little _shit_ who Dabi was kinda pissed he liked. Because he was _also_ a goddamned _trouble magnet._ If he didn't know the kid was quirkless, he'd swear _that_ was his quirk- even over his brain.

Todoroki "Dabi" Touya knew what adrenaline felt like, what it did, intimately. People talked about how it let you do amazing things, how it made everything slow down, and made you react quicker.

But adrenaline wasn't some super-quirk answer to the world. It wasn't there to make you _think_. It was there to help you _fight_ or _flee_. It was made to help instinct along- not to help you solve problems.

Adrenaline made you _stupid_, instinctive and unthinking.

Dabi _knew_ that. He knew it- it was what had earned him his scars.

But watching this League of Villains 'Sensei' take interest in Izuku, watching him try to _take_ Izuku to make him a Nomu…

Dabi's first instinct is _fight_. In the split second between the adrenaline dump and thousands of years of instinct, Dabi's choice is to burn the bar, and everyone in it, to the ground- so long as he and Izuku can walk out.

He'd lost one little brother already- he'd burn the world to ash before he gave up another.


	14. Tear-Stained (Ch12 Continuation)

Horror.

Grief.

Rage.

And the deep pit of helplessness that sat in his stomach, that made his guts turn and bile crawl up the back of his throat. Shouta couldn't _see_, and because he couldn't see, he couldn't _help_. But...he could see now.

He could see now, and he had no idea what to do.

His students, his _children_, were...they'd been hurt. They'd been hurt so _much_, so much more than he'd ever thought they had been. At least with the scars he had seen before, he'd known they hadn't gotten them on his watch, without first putting himself in the way.

These...these were different. He'd...he'd missed this. Missed these scars being put on his kids. Missed the fights that had put them there. And he couldn't help but wonder….how many...how many of them had they gotten while he was oblivious? At the school? In the dorms?

How many times had they fought while he just….sat there, unmoving, and _let_ them fight life or death battles?

He stares at the scars made visible to him, each with some sign of "_Other"_ left in the scar, and whispers "I'm sorry."

There were so _many._

Izuku shakes his head, a soft, understanding look on his face that makes Shouta's stomach _turn._ He didn't deserve it, he never deserved it. They had _scars _on their tiny- so small, only children- bodies, some worse than scars he'd seen on pro heroes.

"Aizawa-sensei, it's okay. I've only known one adult in my entire life that actually _Sees_ like this. We know you would have helped if you could See."

Shouta's hands tremble where he's grabbed onto his capture-weapon like it could ground him. "It's no excuse, Problem Child. You were hurt under my watch." He pauses, and then asks "Who can See?"

Who could he ask to explain this to him?

Hitoshi is the one to answer him, voice soft "Toshi-sensei. I've never seen an adult that could See before him. And Izuku is the first person I've met who could See like me. Katsuki only learned to See again recently….and now you."

Shouta's next inhale shakes.

Everything he'd ever known is….wrong. Every story he's scoffed at and dismissed- _how many "stories" had these children fought in the dark?_\- is real. Is a threat. And somehow it doesn't surprise him like it should that Yagi "All Might" Toshinori is the one adult that could See this horror.

How many scars would he have, Shouta wondered, that hadn't been visible before? How many had he earned fighting demons and creatures that Shouta hadn't known were threatening his changes? His coworkers?

How many times had his kids, or even Toshinori, watched Shouta turn away from them, walk past them, while they scrambled to fight for their- for all of their- lives?

He needs to pull himself together, and they need to get back to the dorms. He needs to talk to Toshinori, and he needs- he needs to make sure his three kids are _safe_.

"Is Toshinori aware of what you're doing now?"

The three problem children glance at each other, and then back to him, where Katsuki speaks up, uncharacteristically soft spoken, and not a curse to be heard. "No. Not right now. The Shadow Horde was a surprise we weren't expecting to find, but couldn't leave when we did."

Izuku picked up where Katsuki trailed off "It started at the edges of the Dorms, so we chased them. Shadow Hordes are...bad, left alone. The older, or more grouped together they are, the harder it gets to fight them in the dark. They can take over people's shadows, like a puppetry quirk, and they like chaos. They've been known to force people to kill and...it gets really bad, Aizawa-sensei. So we jumped in to stop it, because no one else could See to do it."

Hitoshi leans into Izuku, and looks up at him as he offers "But Toshi-sensei will always help us if we come back hurt. And if he's there, he's really experienced with this, and even though he's retired now, he can still help with this."

Shouta closes his eyes.

There was nothing, _nothing_, more terrifying than watching three of his kids fight an enemy he _couldn't track_, pressed into the light, and unable to even see to help them. Flashing his quirk had done nothing. It had changed nothing. His kids hadn't been using theirs, and the creatures they had fought had no quirk for Shouta to Erase.

He'd been terrified he was going to see his kids get hurt, and he'd be unable to help them, because he couldn't _see what was happening-_

He _needed to see-_

And then he had.

He's Seen the creatures in the dark, the flickers of movement he'd dismissed, that had been so very dangerous. He'd watched his kids fight something he had no idea how to handle, no idea what they even were.

And then, when it was over, they trudged over him, some new injuries in place, and new scars showing for Shouta to stare at with horror.

"Do not go out to fight anything dangerous without one of us, please." He tries for a stern tone, but he can hear his own voice waver a little. The kids don't seem- or at least pretend not to- notice, and give some variation of "We'll try."

Shouta will take it.

"Let's get back to the dorms, and then I'm going to talk with Yagi."

He carefully herds the kids back towards U.A, making a point to help them with their new injuries before he begins to usher them on.

His hands are still shaking. He can feel the prickle over overwhelmed tears, despite his dry eye, and he wants to _rage_ that it took him this long to See. Wants to scream, that these kids- any kid- didn't deserve to handle the monsters they were taught to fear as children alone.

Instead he takes a breath, and makes himself a promise.

_Never Again._


End file.
